As a signatory of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 

Egypt is
making all efforts to comply with the UNFCC strategy to meet the challenge of increasing
energy demand, while integrating environmental factors into national decision making and
continuously improving environmental performance. In the electricity sector, a number of
specific actions have been undertaken to help meet the demand for electricity while
minimizing the resulting environmental impacts. Over-all, environmental considerations have
become a major issue in calculating the feasibility of any new additions to the electricity
system. The study for the DECADES project focused on developing an inventory of
greenhouse gasses associated with energy activities in Egypt, and analysing policy
measures and technologies that could be applied to decrease the GHG emissions from the
base scenario by some 25% to 50%.
A set of performance indicators was developed against which implementation of the national
strategy measures aimed at reducing GHG emissions could be evaluated. In the study, GHG
emissions were calculated for full energy chains for electricity generation taking into account
the emissions during construction, operation and decommissioning of energy facilities. In
addition, a mathematical model was developed for assessing GHG emissions from
hydropower in Egypt. A variety of primary energy resources is available in Egypt, with
varying potentialities.
The second set of plans considered the inclusion of non-traditional generation resources and
demand side management options into the overall resource plan in terms of their economic
and environmental benefits. The expansion plans took into consideration that the installed
reserves of the Egyptian power system must accommodate changes in the availability of the
hydro generation units depending on irrigation requirements, scheduled
maintenance, unplanned forced outages, daily and seasonal fluctuations in customer
demand. In the study, more than 30 indicators were used to measure progress towards
sustainable development in the country. The selected indicators were used as a measure of
overall performance relative to targets and benchmarks for projections up to the year 2020.
When evaluating the first set of plans, the scenario using the nuclear and coal options was
determined to be the most expensive option, while a coal-only scenario has the highest
values for GHG emissions. The second set of plans indicated that the potential savings from
the demand side management programs ranged from a 10% reduction per year as
compared to the base year for the moderate scenario, up to 20% per year for the aggressive
scenario. The optimum expansion plan also indicated that wind generation could be
economically competitive when fuels are priced at the international level.