Saudi utility firm ACWA Power has been granted land for a 10 GW wind project in Egypt by the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA).
The 10 GW wind power plant is expected to provide the Egyptian economy with $6.5 billion in savings in annual natural gas costs and create up to 120,000 job opportunities.
“We are determined to harness the vast potential of wind power, creating jobs, reducing emissions, and ensuring a greener and brighter future for Egypt, in alignment with ACWA Power’s vision for a sustainable planet,” Marco Arcelli, CEO of ACWA Power said in a statement.
ACWA Power was granted approximately 3,000 square kilometres of land west of Sohag, an urban centre, for the project.
“Egypt has adopted an ambitious programme to advance the electricity sector in various fields, which includes maximising the utilisation 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% by 2035,” said Dr Mohamed Shaker Al-Marqabi, the Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy.
“We foresee that the positive contributions with financing institutions and development partners, as well as the comparative advantages of Egypt in terms of the availability of land, will show that the country has what it takes to produce renewable energy for domestic consumption and export.”
The wind project is expected to generate around 50 thousand gigawatt-hours of clean energy annually, providing electricity to around 11 million households and mitigating the impact of 25.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
ACWA Power 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. The company has had a presence in Egypt since 2015.
