Mahmoud Mohamed El-Gamal

Egyptian engineer who pioneered renewable energy solutions in rural Africa

Mahmoud Mohamed El-Gamal (born 1972) is a visionary Egyptian engineer whose work in renewable energy has transformed access to electricity in remote African communities. After earning his PhD from the University of Cambridge, he returned to Egypt in 1998 to establish the Nile Solar Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to deploying solar power systems in underserved regions. His innovative Portable Solar Unit design, featured in Engineering for Change, has provided clean energy to over 500,000 people across 14 African countries.

El-Gamal's breakthrough came in 2001 with the development of low-cost solar inverters using locally sourced materials. This technology reduced system costs by 40%, making solar power financially viable for rural households. His TED Talk on 'Solar Empowerment Strategies' has been viewed over 2 million times. In 2015, he launched the African Solar Grid project, connecting 23 nations through a decentralized energy network using smart grid technology. His work has been documented in the BBC series Lighting Africa's Future and forms the basis for UNDP's regional energy policies.

El-Gamal's approach emphasizes community involvement, training over 10,000 local technicians through his Solar Academy program. His 2008 paper Renewable Energy Equity (published in Energy Policy Journal) remains a foundational text in sustainable development studies. In 2020, he received the Global Green Prize, often called the 'Nobel of Sustainability.'