The Egyptian Cabinet has approved the installation of a solar project by a consortium consisting of Masdar, a UAE-based group, Hassan Allam Utilities from Egypt, and Infinity Power, an Africa-focused independent subsidiary of Masdar.
The facility will have a capacity of 1,200 MW of energy and 240 MW/hour of storage batteries. The cabinet also approved a proposal by the consortium to begin studying the possible implementation of 4,000 MW of solar power. The approval, which came in the week of August 26, 2024, came barely a week after the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company signed a trilateral purchase power agreement with Masdar and Infinity Power to construct a 200 MW wind farm in Ras Ghareb, the northernmost municipality in the Red Sea Governorate, situated on the African side of the Gulf of Suez in Egypt.
Masdar, Infinity Power, and Hassan Allam Utilities are also building a 10,000 MW wind farm project in Sohag Governorate in Upper Egypt (south of the country), estimated to cost around $10 billion. It is expected to be one of the largest wind farms on the planet.
The same consortium has partnered with BP, the British fossil fuel giant, to develop a $15 billion green hydrogen project in the Suez Canal Zone. Over the past five years, Egypt has aggressively pursued renewable energy initiatives. Among the various projects under construction, Dubai-based AMEA Power is developing two major ones: a 500 MW solar plant in Abydos, Sohag Governorate, set to be commissioned by October 2024, and a 500 MW wind farm in Ras Ghareb, expected to be completed by July 2025.
