UAE consortium wins approval for $500 million wind farm project in Egypt
Egypt approves land allocation and also announces MENA’s first sovereign green bond focusing on anti-pollution and renewable energy projects
The Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy has said that it has approved an Emirati consortium’s request for land allocation for a wind farm project.
The UAE group is studying the implementation of the wind farm to produce electricity in Egypt, at investments worth about $500 million.
Official sources at the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) has revealed that the wind energy station is expected to have a capacity of about 500 MW, noting that the consortium is currently carrying out two-year studies. This will include measuring wind speed, monitoring bird migration, as well as examining the soil.
Officials further added that studies would take place in the Gulf of Suez region, as it has a strong wind force, which is an essential factor. In cooperation with the private sector under the usufructuary right system, the project has been earmarked 7,872 km of land, according to the NREA.
It has been reported that the land is allocated in return for 2% of the project’s total produced energy or its equivalent during the development’s duration. In the future, NREA will recover the plot, according to sources.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Finance Ministry has announced that it has pulled in MENA region’s first sovereign green bond, as the Arab nation looks ahead at anti-pollution and renewable energy projects. The bond is said to be part of Egypt’s strategy to secure new financing sources and broaden the country’s investor base. Its portfolio of potential green projects including clean transportation, renewable energy and sustainable water management is expected to be around $1.9 billion.
