Korea, Egypt sign clean energy and grid cooperation agreements

The environment ministry said Thursday that South Korea and Egypt signed two memorandums of understanding on clean energy and power infrastructure cooperation during a summit at the presidential office, widening bilateral energy ties from renewable generation to the grid that carries it.

Under the clean energy memorandum, concluded with Egypt's Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, the two countries will exchange policy and information on solar and onshore wind power, biomass, waste-to-energy and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The power infrastructure agreement covers transmission and distribution network expansion, repair of ageing facilities, and the sharing of policy and technology on high-voltage direct current transmission and energy storage systems.

Both sides plan to expand exchanges between their relevant agencies and companies and to identify joint projects in the two fields. Seoul and Cairo are pursuing the deals as Korea aims for carbon neutrality by 2050 and Egypt works toward its 2035 integrated energy diversification strategy, with growing renewable generation and rising power demand in Egypt increasing the need for grid cooperation.

"With the conclusion of these memorandums of understanding, we have laid the foundation for broadening the scope of energy cooperation between the two countries from clean energy to power infrastructure," Climate, Energy and Environment Minister Kim Sung-hwan said. "We will actively support efforts so that the two countries' experience and technology lead to substantive cooperative projects and to our companies' overseas expansion."

President Lee Jae-myung said the clean energy memorandum would expand cooperation between the two countries on the energy transition, while the infrastructure agreement would contribute to stable power supply and stronger energy security.