Power cuts shed light on Egypt’s multiple problems

Now more than ever, Egypt’s energy crisis is politically charged and with a long summer ahead, the fuse is growing dangerously short, writes Maria Golia

Egyptians have put up with a lot since 2011, but little arouses the collective ire like the power outages that have become a daily occurrence in the past few months. Depending on how long they last, precious food may rot in the fridge, water won’t reach the taps (without the assistance of electrical pumps) and life becomes just that much harder, especially when it’s hot.

In the past three years, presidents and prime ministers have come and gone in Egypt, parliaments were elected and dissolved, scores of governors appointed and replaced and ministerial portfolios passed around like a baton in a relay race. Unable to grapple meaningfully with Egypt's multifaceted malaise, successive administrations have juggled crises, taking spurious actions to address its symptoms. A case in point is the interim cabinet's April 4 decision to import coal to fuel the cement industry, because power shortages are threatening to shut it down.

Egypt qualifies as an environmental disaster zone. A desert country with just 5.5 per cent arable land, it suffers from coastal erosion and salinisation of its formerly fertile Nile Delta, the world’s greatest annual loss of farmland to urban development and rampant pollution, while its population struggles with high rates of respiratory disease.

Given this, one of the last things Egypt needs is coal-fuelled cement production, particularly as that industry is notorious locally for its lax emissions controls and inefficient use of power. Along with cement, the fertiliser sector is one of the top three consumers of natural gas. Both have inspired popular movements for better pollution control.

The Egyptian cabinet’s promise to apply “the latest technologies” to regulate coal emissions rings hollow, considering the state’s track record and the cost involved. America’s first “clean coal” power plant, designed to capture carbon emissions and stash them safely underground, cost $5 billion (Dh18bn). Although Egypt would be using coal on a smaller scale, the “latest technologies” may translate into whatever the cement plants can get away with. The decision to go ahead with coal imports belies a greater problem, one that threatens the nation’s productivity and the credibility of its leadership.

Egypt would have all the energy it needs had the country’s natural gas resources not been sold cheaply for export under Hosni Mubarak. To cover domestic shortfalls of natural gas, which fuels 70 per cent of electricity production, the state has lately held back portions slated for export, prompting some corporations to halt further exploration and exploitation of the country’s still untapped supplies.

This leaves Egypt in the untenable position of having to import natural gas at market prices, while selling it well below global costs.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that energy is state-subsidised, accounting for a fifth ($15 billion) of the nation’s annual budget. Reforming the subsidy system would involve raising the price of electricity, which is a politically volatile move. At the same time, cheap energy encourages wastefulness, but no efforts have been made to curb consumption.

According to the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, the country’s cement factories use up to 34 per cent more energy than comparable plants in Europe. Allowing the industry to purchase its own coal may reduce the burden on the power grid in the short term, but it fails to address the greater problem of delivering an adequate power supply.

Egypt’s minister of environmental affairs, Laila Iskandar, and several environment-related NGOs have openly opposed coal imports while proposing the development of alternative energy sources. Germany and the Netherlands, for instance, fuel their cement industries mainly by waste, an admittedly expensive solution that local industry experts have dismissed.

The question is how long Egypt can get by with partial solutions. When President Mohammed Morsi was ousted last year, one of the main complaints was that his government had done nothing about fuel shortages. Like Mr Morsi, Egypt's next president will inherit a problem he did not cause but will be expected to solve.

Abdel Fattah El Sisi, who is likely to fill that role, may cast the power cuts as one of the “sacrifices” he mentioned in his candidacy speech that Egyptians must endure for the greater good. For now the outages serve as an escape valve for public anger, a complaint people may safely make in lieu of critiquing the darker failings of a state they still hope can somehow save them.

Despite burgeoning population growth and ever-increasing energy demand, Egypt’s administrators have yet to work cooperatively towards viable, comprehensive solutions. Now more than ever, Egypt’s energy crisis is politically charged and with a long, hot summer before us, the fuse is growing dangerously short.

Maria Golia, author of Cairo, City of Sand and Photography and Egypt, lives in Cairo

www.mariagolia.wordpress.com