As the global energy landscape accelerates toward a climate-neutral and secure energy future, the need for real leadership, practical solutions, and visionary thinking has never been greater. ‘In Conversation With’ is a new blog series from Dii Desert Energy that spotlights the voices shaping the energy transition across the MENA region and beyond.
Heba Rabie Director, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Global Wind Energy Council
Heba Rabie is a sustainability and renewable energy professional with over 15 years of experience across the public and private sectors. She is currently the Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), where she leads strategic initiatives to accelerate wind energy deployment across the region.
Prior to joining GWEC, Heba held several roles at Lekela Power (an Infinity Power company), where she supported the development of a utility-scale wind energy project in Egypt. Her career spans a diverse range of roles including environmental consultancy, environmental public health at Public Health England, and carbon project development at The Gold Standard Foundation. She began her career as a process engineer at Shell, where she led emissions reduction initiatives for upstream assets.
Heba holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London and a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the American University in Cairo.
About Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC)
The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) is the global voice of the wind industry, bringing together companies, policymakers, and experts to accelerate the growth of wind energy worldwide. The members of GWEC represent over 1,500 companies, organisations and institutions in more than 80 countries, including manufacturers, developers, component suppliers, research institutes, national wind and renewables associations, electricity providers, finance and insurance companies.
GWEC works at the highest international political level to create a better policy environment for wind power. GWEC members are active all over the world, educating local and national governments as well as international agencies on the benefits of wind power to advocate new policies and help wind power reach its full potential in as markets as possible.
What are you currently focusing on? And why is this important now?
I am currently working on building a stronger presence for GWEC in the MENA region. In order to do so, we are focusing on engaging with both governments and developers active across the region. In Egypt, I am helping the Egyptian industry establish Egypt’s first Wind Energy Developers Association. This will unify the Egyptian voices in the country’s wind energy market and will create a platform for collaboration between all parties involved in the sector in Egypt. Another topic high on our agenda in the region is grid modernization and expansion. With the region’s ambitious renewable energy plans, it has become critical to ensure that grid infrastructure is able to accommodate for this increase in renewable energy generation and that there are policies in place to ensure more investment in grids. The region is far from alone in this need to expand grids, and it is an area GWEC can share expertise from other markets, mature and other emerging, to help the MENA region solve this challenge as smoothly as possible.
“The region is far from alone in this need to expand grids, and it is an area GWEC can share expertise from other markets, mature and other emerging, to help the MENA region solve this challenge as smoothly as possible.”
What do you see the impact of the above focus being on the industry?
I think GWEC has a very important role to play in bridging between the wind energy industry and governments. The future for wind energy, and all renewables, is bright in the region, and with the right policy and regulatory environment, the impact could be significant. In the near future, we will see more wind projects being developed, more private sector involvement, and stronger local supply chains. The expansion of wind energy in the region is also an opportunity for countries to build new industries around the wind sector, creating jobs, transferring skills, and supporting broader economic development.
“The future for wind energy, and all renewables, is bright in the region, and with the right policy and regulatory environment, the impact could be significant”
What will you be discussing at the Dii Desert Energy Leadership Summit this year?
I’ll be talking about supply chains and localisation, and how these topics are key to shaping the region’s renewable energy projects, especially for the wind sector. As countries aim to build more local content into their energy plans, it’s important to understand how supply chains work, what’s needed to support them, and how that affects the pace and cost of project development. I will also be looking at initiatives across the region looking to localise main wind energy components and how that could impact project development MENA.
“As countries aim to build more local content into their energy plans, it’s important to understand how supply chains work, what’s needed to support them, and how that affects the pace and cost of project development”
Have you been to the Dii Desert Energy Leadership Summit before?
Yes, I’ve attended before – and I actually helped organise the field trip to the West Bakr Wind Farm in Egypt for the Dii delegation in 2022 when the summit was in Cairo. It was such a great experience, both in and out of the sessions. The Summit brings together an excellent mix of people, industry leaders, policymakers, investors, which ensures the conversations are always insightful and constructive. The networking opportunities are also great, I have made some really valuable connections and friendships from my last experience at the Summit. If you’re working in the region’s renewable energy space, I’d definitely recommend joining.
“I have made some really valuable connections and friendships from my last experience at the Summit. If you’re working in the region’s renewable energy space, I’d definitely recommend joining.”