Cablegate: Egypt: Opic-Supported Global Renewable Energy Investment

VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #2124 3140914
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 100914Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4176
INFO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS CAIRO 002124

DEPT FOR NEA/ELA
STATE PASS TO OPIC - BARBARA BRERETON

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EINV ENRG ECON EAID EG
SUBJECT: EGYPT: OPIC-SUPPORTED GLOBAL RENEWABLE ENERGY INVESTMENT
ASSESSMENT

REF: STATE 95170 Sensitive but Unclassified. Please handle accordingly.
1.(SBU) In response to reftel request for comments on the OPIC-supported Global Renewable Energy Investment program, Post and local contacts are not aware of any derogatory information with respect to the prospective fund manager, US Renewables Group, LLC.

2.(SBU) Renewable energy currently forms a miniscule amount of Egypt's total energy usage and the Egyptian government (GoE) has made diversifying its energy sources a national priority. The GoE has established a target that by 2020 20% of the country's electricitys consumption will be met by renewable energy resources - with wind forming the bulk of this goal. According to a 2008 Egyptian Competitiveness Report, the country's Suez Gulf Coast has the potential to host 20,000 megawatts of wind farms. The GoE receives funding for wind farm development from EU countries (primarily Germany), Japan, as well as the World Bank. Despite these efforts, a consultant to Prime Minister Nazif's Supreme Council on Energy told us that there remains a strong need for increased capital for new renewable energy projects in Egypt. Support for renewable energy financing is consistent with U.S. interests in Egypt and Post believes that OPIC's proposed investment would be welcomed. Scobey

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