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the park will be fed into a small grid via a lift Egypt and South Africa also use the from the European Bank for Reconstruction
station. auction mechanism to award renewable and Development (EBRD) for its new wind
The system will consist of two transformers power capacity, including solar PV. project in the Gulf of Suez in Egypt. The
that will allow the electricity to be transported Aditya Sharma, a power analyst at company has received a $50mn loan from
and distributed over a 33kV, 82km GlobalData, says the growth of net-metering the European financial institution for the
transmission line. and solar power auctions not only helps construction of its 500 MW wind farm in the
the countries to develop alternative power locality of Ras Ghareb.
generation sources but it also encourages and Red Sea Wind Energy was set up to
facilitates economic growth as this increases develop wind energy projects in Egypt. The
SOL AR private investment activities. company is owned by the French group Engie
Several of the solar PV projects undertaken and the Japanese Toyota Tsusho Corporation/
Net-metering gaining favour in these countries have regulations associated Eurus Energy. The consortium has already
successfully developed a wind farm that is
with minimum local content requirements
throughout Middle East and which facilitate increased employment already injecting 262.5 MW into the Egyptian
electricity grid from Ras Ghareb.
along with industrial and technological
Africa development. being developed 45 km from the town of Ras
Red Sea Wind Energy’s wind project is
“Many countries in the MEA region are
Several countries in the Middle East and members of OPEC and are largely dependent Ghareb. According to the European Bank for
Africa are increasingly developing solar PV on oil as their primary energy source. Reconstruction and Development (EBRD),
systems to increase their energy capacity while However, to following the global trend of the project will contribute significantly to the
reviewing greenhouse gas emissions. transition towards renewable energy and to transition to a low-carbon economy in Egypt,
Data and analytics company GlobalData decrease their dependence on a single energy a North African country heavily dependent
says these countries are specifically starting to source, man countries in the MEA region are on thermal power generation. The project will
implement net-metering schemes and solar taking steps towards the development of new also contribute to the government’s ambition
PV auctions, facilitated by their governments renewable power capacity,” explained Sharma. to produce 20% of the country’s electricity
introducing regulatory steps to make these GLOBAL DATA from clean sources by 2022 and 42% by 2035.
measures possible. “The project is expected to bring significant
Most countries in the Middle East and environmental benefits, with annual avoided
Africa are heavily reliant on fossil fuels for SOL AR carbon dioxide emissions estimated at around
power generation sources. High volatility 1,000,000 tonnes,” says the EBRD.
of oil prices and an increasing pressure to EBRD approves $50mn loan A total investment of $560mn will be
decarbonise in efforts to reduce greenhouse needed to implement the wind project. The
gas emission, is encouraging governments for Egyptian wind future wind farm will also have a cost for the
in the region to look at alternative power environment. The Gulf of Suez, particularly
generation sources as they increase their The European Bank for Reconstruction and the locality of Ras Ghareb, is highly coveted
country’s energy access. Development (EBRD) has recently approved a by independent power producers (IPPs). In
One of the most visible trends in the $50mn loan for a 500MW wind power project addition to the Red Sea Wind Energy project,
region, according to GlobalData, is the in the Gulf of Suez in Egypt. The project is the German-Spanish company Siemens
introduction and improvement of net- led by a consortium formed by French giant Gamesa has received approval from the
metering schemes for solar PV installations. Engie and Japanese Eurus Energy/Toyota Egyptian authorities to produce 500 MW
Specifically, Israel and the UAE implement Tsusho Corporation. from two wind farms of 180 and 320 MW.
net-metering schemes in 2013 and 2015 Red Sea Wind Energy is receiving support
respectively.
The Dubai Electricity and Water
Authority’s net-metering scheme has so
far been implemented in more than 1,000
buildings, with a total capacity of more than
100MW.
Morocco, Nigeria and Ghana have also
introduced net-metering regulations and
Kenya recently passed legislation to pave the
way for a net-metering programme they are
about to introduce.
Algeria, the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
and Qatar are moving towards using solar
tenders/auctions to drive the growth of their
solar PV markets.
In 2019, Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity held
a solar PV auction and awarded a project with
a capacity of 755MW across seven sites. In
the same year, Emirates Water and Electricity
Company in the UAE issued a tender for the
2GW solar projects in Al Dhafra region.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 32 13•August•2020