Suez Gulf Wind Energy Complex to enter service in 2023 producing 2.5K MW

CAIRO – 13 July 2021: Chairman of the Renewable Energy Authority Mohamed al-Khayat stated in a phone-in Monday that the Suez Gulf Complex encompassing wind farms is planned to enter service in 2023 producing 2,500 megawatts of electricity.

The official noted that Egypt currently produces 6,000 megawatts of renewable energy per annum and that it contributes in the energy mix by 18 percent.

The Egyptian Atlas prepared by the New and Renewable Energy Authority indicates that desert areas extending over 7,673 kilometers are suitable for the establishment of wind farms, which can boost the amount of renewable energy produced to 90,000 megawatts, Spokesperson of Electricity Ministry Ayman Hamza highlighted in March.

It is noted that in 2019 Egypt produced 6,000 megawatts of renewable energy. That was 11 percent of the country's energy mix standing at 55,000 megawatts in that year.  

Hamza pointed out that Egypt has currently raised the share of renewably energy to 20 percent of the mix, which was planned to get achieved by 2022. Now, the goal is making renewable energy compose 42 percent of the energy produced in Egypt by 2035.

Hala El-Said, minister of planning and economic development, indicated in December that 416 projects have been completed in the electricity and renewable energy sector, with a total investment cost estimated at LE 95.6 billion, of which 194 are projects were launched by the end of fiscal year 2019/20 at LE 33.6 billion.

According to the report, renewable energy projects included the implementation of 32 photovoltaic solar power stations in Benban, Aswan, with a capacity of 1,465 megawatts, which came in cooperation with the private sector, as well as the establishment of a photovoltaic cell station in Kom Ombo, Aswan, with a capacity of 26 megawatts, and the construction of wind farms (Jabal Al-Zeit 1, 2, 3) with a total capacity 380 megawatts in the Red Sea Governorate, in addition to the construction of a wind farm in the Gulf of Suez, with a capacity of 2,500 megawatts.