Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mohamed Shaker has announced the development of a new green energy production complex in the country. Located in the Gulf of Suez, part of the governorate of the Red Sea, this wind power complex will have a capacity of 2,000 MW. The mega project developed by independent power producers (IPP) should bring the country’s renewable energy production capacity to 10,000 MW. Germany-based Siemens is reportedly developing 500 MW of this capacity.
The governorate of the Red Sea concentrates a significant number of wind farms already commissioned or under construction by the IPPs. Among these is the West Bakr wind farm in Ras Ghareb. With an expected capacity of 250 MW, the project is being developed by Lekela Power, a joint venture between the British investment fund Actis and Mainstream Renewable Power. These projects are part of the Egyptian government’s policy to produce 20 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2022 and 40 per cent by 2035.
According to Shaker, the situation of renewable energy projects in Egypt has improved significantly. The productivity of hydropower during the last fiscal year 2019-2020 amounted to about 15,038 gigawatt per hour, while wind energy projects made about 4,230 gigawatt per hour. The energy produced from solar cells connected to the power grid amounted to about 3,655 gigawatt per hour, in addition to about 15 gigawatt per hour generated from biofuel projects.
The private sector has played an important role in fulfilling the National Renewable Energy Strategy. The minister referred to the commercial operation of the 1,465 MW capacity Benban Solar Energy Complex in Aswan Governorate which was completed in 2019. Other examples he named included the 250 MW West Bakr wind farm, the first plant tendered on a build-own-operate (BOO) scheme and a 26 MW photovoltaic plant in Kom Ombo, Aswan governorate. There are other projects in various stages of development with a total capacity of about 2,200 MW of wind energy and 520 MW of solar energy.
REGlobal’s Views: Egypt is fast emerging as a big renewable energy market. There are a number of projects in the works around Egypt that share a total capacity of 2,200 MW of wind energy and 520 MW of solar energy in total. Not to mention the establishment of Benban Solar Park, one of the largest solar parks in the world.
