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AfrElec COMMENTARY AfrElec
Siemens leads wind development in Egypt
Siemens Gamesa is to build Lekela Power’s 250MW wind farm at West Bakr, while calling for a major new global commitment to wind to help reduce emissions, writes Richard Lockhart
AFRICA
WHAT:
Siemens has gained a 250MW wind farm contract from Lekela Power
WHY:
Egypt wants renewables to account for 20% of power demand by 2022 and 42% by 2035
WHAT NEXT:
Egypt is well-placed
to take advantage of utility-scale wind farms, but across Africa micro- grids are a more suitable solution
NORTH African economic powerhouse Egypt is pushing ahead with its renewables programme, this week teaming up with Siemens Gamesa to build 250 MW of wind capacity.
The Spanish developer is confident that its wind technology can play a crucial role in global green development, claiming in a new report that wind could account for 34% of global demand by 2040.
Wind farms
In Egypt, Africa-focused Lekela Power has awarded Siemens Gamesa a 250-MW contract to build the West Bakr wind farm in Egypt.
The project involved supplying and installing 96 of Siemens Gamesa’s SG 2.6-114 turbines, as well as providing maintenance for 15 years.
The wind farm is to be built 30km north- west of Ras el Ghareb, in the Gulf of Suez, on the build-own-operate (BOO) model.
Siemens Gamesa is to install its first turbines in 2020, while generation will begin in 2021.
The company says that the wind farm will be able to generate 1,000GWh per year and will save 550,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of carbon dioxide emissions.
Project developer Lekela is to sell the electric- ity to state-owned grid operators Egyptian Elec- tricity Transmission Co. (EETC) after signing a power purchase agreement (PPA) in February 2019 with EETC and Egypt’s New and Renewa- ble Energy Company Authority (NERA).
Siemens Gamesa said that the wind farm would raise Egypt’s installed wind capacity by 18% to 1,650 MW in 2021.
The Egyptian government wants renewables to account for 20% of its power demand by 2022 and 42% by 2035.
“Our aim is to support the government to deliver long-term and lasting impact for our communities, environmentally, economically and socially,” Siemens Gamesa Renewable Ener- gy’s (SGRE) onshore business head Alfonso Faubel said.
The government has insisted on a 70% local content share for local contractors. They will carry out much of the civil, electrical and logisti- cal work on the project.
Siemens Gamesa has built eight wind farms in Egypt with 1,200 MW of total capacity, while it has installed 3.1 GW across North Africa as a whole, with projects in Egypt, South Africa,
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 41 16•October•2019