Saudi’s energy firm ACWA Power has singed a pact with the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) to allocate land for a 10 GW wind project in Egypt.
The agreement is a next step in the development of this large scale RE facility. It was signed at the headquarters of the Council of Ministers in the new city of El Alamein, by Mohamed El Khayat, Chairman of NREA, and Eng. Hassan Amin, Country Director – Egypt, ACWA Power, in the presence of the H.E. Dr. Moustafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt, Dr. Mohamed Shaker, the Egyptian Minister of Electricity, Mazyad bin Muhammad Al-Huwaishan, Consul General of Saudi Arabia in Alexandria, Eng. Sabah Mashaly, Chairman of EETC and Marco Arcelli, CEO, ACWA Power.
As per the MoU, 3,000 square kilometres of land is allocated in the west of Sohag for the project. 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.
The 10 GW wind power plant will be providing the Egyptian economy with US$6.5 billion savings in annual natural gas costs. It is expected to create up to 120,000 job opportunities. The direct employment in the construction phase is estimated at 45,000 people, and around 75 thousand people indirectly. In addition, it is expected to add about 2,500 jobs for the operation and maintenance phase after the completion.
The firm informed that, ACWA Power has its presence in Egypt since 2015 and already has three other facilities in Egypt, that are either in operation, under construction or in advanced development that includes 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.
