Egypt inaugurates largest wind power plant in MENA, Africa

Egyptian Electricity and Renewable Energy Ministry inaugurated Sunday the largest wind power plant in Middle East and Africa located in Gabal el Zeit, Red Sea governorate.

In a statement released Sunday, the ministry stated that the 200MWs-plant has been established with investments worth €270 million -including consulting services- in cooperation with the German government, European Investment Bank (EIB), and European Commission.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Mohamed Shaker -electricity minister-, Ahmed Abdulla – Red Sea governor-, Julius Georg Luy -German ambassador to Cairo-, Mohamed Salah ElSobki -chairman of the New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA)-, in addition to Spanish ambassador to Egypt, Head of European Union Delegation to Egypt, regional representative of EIB and other officials.

According to the ministry, the project has been implemented over 30 months through 4 phases; first phase includes supplying and installing 100 wind turbines i.e. 2 MWs for each turbine while the second phase included the civil and electrical works.

Third phase  included establishing the administrative building and housing units while the fourth one encompassed executing substation.

This comes among the agreement signed between the Egyptian government and its German counterpart and the European partners; European Commission, German KfW Development Bank, and European Investment Bank.

The new wind power plant is set to generate around 800 GWh annually to save around 180,000 tonnes of oil per year.

Egyptian electricity sector targets renewal energy to represent 20 percent of the total generated power by 2022.