Solar Energy Cost Efficiency: A Simulated Case Study in the Egyptian Context

Dina Bassiouny () and Ehab Mohamed
Additional contact information
Dina Bassiouny: Faculty of Management Technology, The German University in Cairo
Ehab Mohamed: Faculty of Management Technology, The German University in Cairo

No 22, Working Papers from The German University in Cairo, Faculty of Management Technology

Abstract: In Egypt, electric energy coming from fossil fuels represents around 85% of total electricity requirements. However, the supply of energy in the Arab world is expected to run dry in the coming 30-50 years. With the increase in energy needs, rise in fossil fuel prices, and the swelling of green house gas emissions, the use of renewable and more environment-friendly energy sources to supply power is gaining increased attention. Being a country on the Sunbelt, Egypt has great potential in utilizing solar energy to generate energy products and electricity. However, solar energy is still abandoned in Egypt due to its high costs. This paper first aims to examine the relative significance of several accounting and economic related variables to reduce solar energy costs. To be more specific, the paper seeks to examine the effect of using accounting and finance-based factors, related to depreciation schemes and financing options, to decrease solar energy costs. These factors are considered as a substitute for direct subsidies which are difficult to implement because of the narrow financial scope of the Egyptian government. The results of the study provide a number of policy implications that can be applied to make solar energy closer to cost-competitiveness and contribute to solve the energy problem in Egypt.

Keywords: Solar Energy; Cost Efficiency; Government Incentives (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q42 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2010-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara, nep-ene and nep-env
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://mgt.guc.edu.eg/wpapers/022bassiouny_mohamed2010.pdf First version, 2010 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 404 Not Found

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:guc:wpaper:22

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from The German University in Cairo, Faculty of Management Technology Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Dr.Dina Yousri ().