Egypt: Italcementi’s energy diversification focus

Italcementi is currently focussing on energy source diversification at its Egyptian facilities, CEO Carlo Pesenti told Daily News Egypt. Mr Pesenti said the company will be relying on using coal, alternative fuels and renewable energy.

Italcementi Managing Director in Egypt Bruno Carrè previously said the company will convert two new facilities in 2015, adding to two facilities converted in 2014. "We are investing some EGP400m per year for four years," Carrè said. "We have done one and we converted two plants and we have another two plants to complete." He added that the company is investing EUR400m over four years.

On its current Egyptian investments, Pesenti said the "company is investing some EUR120m to build a wind farm that will be deployed in the next 24 months".

In June 2013, the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company signed a contract with Italgen, a subsidiary of Italcementi, to produce electricity from wind energy. The contract allowed Italgen to be the first private investor to enter the Egyptian National Grid through a wind energy park in the area of Gulf El-Zeit.

In terms of new cement capacity, Pesenti said that the company "has capacity to increase the volume of investments".