Foster in Med at Cairo Capitalization Conference

FOSTEr in MED conference in Cairo: the Lebanese team from the Industrial Research Institute shares opportunities and success stories of Solar Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic. - Mr. Naji Abi Zeid (manager of EU Funded FOSTEr in MED project in Lebanon), Dr. Talal Salem and Dr. Elias Kinab (Technical and Scientific Committee members) attended the FOSTEr in MED capitalization event held at the Marriott Hotel and was organized by the Confederation of Egyptian European Business Associations (CEEBA) and the Association of the Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASCAME).

The main objective of the event was to capitalize FOSTEr in MED’s results by creating a network between initiatives and enterprises of solar energy sector. Opening speeches were conducted by Dr. Alaa Ezz, Secretary General of CEEBA; Dr. Nicola Nieddu, FOSTEr in MED project manager; Dr. Mohamed El Sobky, Chairman of New and Renewable Energy Authority of Egypt (NREA); and H.E. James Moran, EU Ambassador to Egypt.

“This capitalization event is for sharing experiences within the photovoltaic field and FOSTEr in MED is working on creating a replicable project to eventually extend its way across the country,” Dr. Ezz stated. EU Ambassador in Egypt, H.E. Moran expressed that renewable energy is growing faster that fossil and nuclear power, stressing on the fact that “solar is most certainly the Egyptian dream”.

During the conference, representatives of FOSTEr in MED have presented the results they obtained so , in particular the Guidelines on building integration of photovoltaic in the Mediterranean, drafted by the Technical Scientific Committee of the project. The pilots, currently in their implementation phase, have been presented as the core of the project and concrete demonstration of building photovoltaic integration in 5 cities of Mediterranean: Alexandria (Egypt), Beirut (Lebanon), Cagliari (Italy), Tunis (Tunisia) and Aqaba (Jordan). The second part of the conference focused on the presentation of success stories by Mediterranean companies operating in the solar industry in Italy, Tunisia and Jordan, and the presentation of the good experiences of another project of ENPI CBC MED solar cluster, Shaams.

During the afternoon section has been held the "Business to Business conference" aimed at creating networks between companies of the solar sector. The meetings, bringing together 15 companies from the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean, gave a chance for companies to be acquainted and share experience on opportunities and challenges on a one-on-one basis.“This event is a good opportunity for Egyptians to learn from European experience and expertise as well as encouraging foreigners to invest,” said Mohamed Abd El-Hai, General Manager, Renewable Business Development Onera Systems. /

FOSTEr in MED is a project financed for an amount of 4,05 million Euro by the European Union through the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme (total amount of 4,5 million Euro). It aims to promote the adoption of innovative solar photovoltaic technologies with a strategic approach in six countries of the Mediterranean area: Italy, Spain, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia. The project partners are: University of Cagliari (UNICA); Association of the Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Special Agency Industry (ASCAME); Promotional Services Centre for enterprises of the Cagliari Chamber of Commerce (CSPI); Confederation of Egyptian European Business Associations (CEEBA); Industrial Research Institute (IRI); Royal Scientific Society (RSS); Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tunis (CCI Tunis); Autonomous Region of Sardinia (RAS).

Website: www.fosterinmed.eu