Innovative Financing Mechanism to Strengthen the Promotion of Distributed Solar Energy Technologies in Egypt (Solar Water Heaters)

Introduction:
Egypt is facing great challenges for the development of energy sector in order to fulfill the escalating energy demand necessary for social and economic development which estimated on average during the last decade at more than 4% for oil, 10% for natural gas and 7% for electricity annually. With limited depleted oil and natural gas resources that constitute about 96% of total primary energy consumption, it becomes imperative that Egypt’s energy strategy and policies be pivoted and directed towards diversification of energy supply with solar energy as one of the main available abundant energy resources that can play an important and vital role to achieve that goal. Among the main challenges facing the achievement of that goal is the relatively high upfront cost of solar energy technologies in addition to heavily subsidized conventional energy prices that make such technologies as infeasible alternative for conventional energy resources and of less attractiveness to energy consumers.