CAIRO, Mar 2 (Aswat Masriya) - The Egypt-based major investment bank EFG Hermes Holdings intends to make investments worth $100 million (around 762 million Egyptian pounds) in renewable energy in Egypt, a top company official said.

Karim Moussa, head of private equity at the company, was cited by state agency MENA as saying that EFG is interested in "expanding activities in the Egyptian market," especially in the field of renewable energy.     

Moussa added that the $100 million will be invested by establishing a "direct investment fund dedicated to investing in this field."

He added that a contribution is anticipated by the Inframed fund, a long term fund that invests in infrastructure. Inframed was launched in 2010, by five major institutional investors including EFG.

Moussa said the fund is interested in making investments in Egypt's energy and infrastructure sectors.

Facing an energy crisis which exacerbates in the summer, Egypt is making moves towards diversifying sources of energy.    

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced in January that Egypt aims to build solar power plants and wind energy facilities within the next three years, with a total capacity of 4,300 megawatts.  

Last October, however, Egypt's Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker said the cost of producing renewable energy is "much larger" than that of producing fossil fuels. He added that the funding needed to set up renewable energy poses as a "large burden" on the state's budget.  

Egypt is also seeking to generate electricity using nuclear power.

Following a meeting in Cairo between Sisi and his Russian counterpart last month, the two countries signed an agreement, in which Russia will help Egypt build a nuclear power plant in Dabaa, on Egypt's Mediterranean coast. 

A Russian delegation visited the site of the Dabaa nuclear facility on Saturday, in a step to implement the Egyptian-Russian agreement.