Speaker

Executive Director and Technical Director of the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) Dr. Maged Mahmoud is the Acting Executive Director and Technical Director of the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE). He has over twenty-five years of professional multidisciplinary technical expertise and recognized achievements in the fields of sustainable energy (SE) transition in North African and West Asian Arab states. During his tenure at RCREEE, 17 Arab countries and many international organizations; such as IRENA, LAS, WB, UNDP, UNE, EU, AU, UfM, REN21, AREI, and others, acknowledged RCREEE as the regional partner to support introducing SE policies and implementation mechanisms focusing on public-private partnerships and green/climate finance. Dr. Mahmoud has an active role in strengthening regional cooperation and is a lead author/contributor to shaping concrete regional initiatives such as the “The Arab SE Strategy - Action Plan”, “Arab RE Framework”, the “Guideline for RE Integration with National Grids” and others. He assisted several Arab countries to develop programs and action plans, introducing business models and instruments for private investments, including utility scale developers and MSMEs. Dr. Mahmoud has a special focus on the energy access issues and effective business models engaging local banks and communities, also addressing fragile situations in political unrest and war-affected countries. Further, he collaborated with global actors to provide tools to assess the socio-economic impacts of the decentralized SE solutions. Before RCREEE, Dr. Mahmoud served for about 15 years at the Egyptian New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA). Among his achievements, Dr. Mahmoud deeply contributed to the planning and contracting several hundreds of megawatts of wind energy projects on the Red Sea coast amounting to more than USD 700 million. He contributed significantly in setting the Egyptian RE 2022 strategy and in the design of the “best-fit” measures for its implementation including feed-in tariffs, competitive bids, and net metering. Further, he participated in developing the quality infrastructure for testing solar thermal and energy efficiency systems in Egypt. Dr. Mahmoud has managed and contributed to over 30 research projects and studies in the sustainable energy fields in collaboration with national and international organizations. He is a certified trainer and author/co-author of over 50 specialized publications and research articles.