Saudi Arabia’s energy company, Acwa Power and Egypt’s New and Renewable Energy Authority reached a preliminary agreement to designate land for a wind project with a capacity of 10 gigawatts in Egypt.
This agreement follows an initial pact signed by the utility, listed in Riyadh, in November of last year, aiming to construct one of the largest wind farms in the region. The project’s value remains undisclosed.
Acwa Power stated on Monday that the project will be situated west of Sohag, an Egyptian city on the western bank of the Nile, covering approximately 3,000 square kilometers of land.
The wind project is expected to generate about 50,000 gigawatt-hours of clean energy annually, providing electricity to about 11 million households and mitigating the impact of 25.5 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year.
“We are determined to harness the vast potential of wind power, creating jobs, reducing emissions, and ensuring a greener and brighter future for Egypt.”
The move comes as Egypt aims to increase its renewable energy capacity in the energy mix to 42 percent by 2035, up from about 11 percent in 2019.
Currently, Egypt’s largest wind farm, which produces 545 megawatts, is in Zafarana, in Egypt’s Ras Ghareb area.
The world’s largest wind project is the Gansu project in China, which has a planned capacity of 20 gigawatts.
The new 10-gigawatt wind power plant is projected to help the Egyptian economy save $6.5 billion in annual natural gas costs, in addition to creating up to 120,000 job opportunities, Acwa Power said.
The company has three other facilities in Egypt that are either in operation, under construction, or in advanced development, including a 120 MW solar PV project in Benban, a 200 MW solar PV facility in Kom Ombo, and the 1.1 GW Suez Wind Energy project.
“Egypt has adopted an ambitious program to advance the electricity sector in various fields, which includes maximizing the utilization of new and renewable energy resources, encouraging investment in these fields to enable energy independence from fossil fuels, continuing to reduce carbon emissions, and increasing renewable energy capacity in the energy mix up to 42 percent by 2035,” said Mohamed Shaker Al Marqabi, Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy.
Acwa Power has a presence in 12 countries spanning the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. The company currently oversees 77 projects, which are either operational, in advanced development, or under construction. These projects have an estimated investment value of $78.2 billion and possess the capability to generate 50.4 gigawatts of power, along with managing 6.8 million cubic meters of desalinated water per day.
The company’s objective for the upcoming decade is to enhance its power generation capacity from 43 gigawatts to 120 gigawatts.
