Egypt's Much-Needed $10 Billion Wind Power Project Delayed Until 2026 - OilPrice.com
Egypt's Much-Needed $10 Billion Wind Power Project Delayed Until 2026 | OilPrice.com
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A $10-billion wind power project in Egypt, one of the world’s biggest, is set to see its construction start by March 2026, delayed from this year due to the process of land acquisition, the chairman of one of the companies involved in the project told Bloomberg.
The wind farm with a planned capacity of 10 gigawatts (GW) is being developed by Infinity Power, the largest African renewable energy developer, Hassan Allam Utilities, and the UAE's flagship renewable energy company, Masdar.
The construction was delayed from the initial timeline which envisaged breaking ground in 2024, due to the process of acquiring the land for the wind power development in the Upper Egyptian region of West Sohag, Mohamed Mansour, chairman of Infinity Power, told Bloomberg in an interview published on Thursday.
Last month, Hassan Allam Utilities, Infinity Power, and Masdar signed a Land Access Agreement for the 10-GW wind project with the Egyptian Government, taking a major step toward construction start.
The huge wind project is expected to produce 47,790 GWh of clean energy per year and cut around 9% of Egypt’s annual carbon emissions by displacing 23.8 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.
The wind farm will also help Egypt meet its strategic objective of sourcing 42% of its energy from renewables by 2030. The 10-GW wind farm will save the country an estimated US$5 billion in natural gas costs per year, Infinity Power said in May.
Egypt needs a mega power project as it struggles with natural gas shortages, which have forced authorities to implement rolling blackouts.
Currently, Egypt is looking to import in the coming months the highest number of LNG cargoes in years as it looks to ease the strain on its grid and industry amid energy shortages that have led to rolling blackouts this summer.
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This week, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that Egypt needs to import $1.18 billion worth of fuel oil and natural gas to end the blackouts, hoping that the power cuts could be halted after the shipments arrive at the end of July.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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Charles is a writer for Oilprice.com
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