Masdar to build wind farm in Egypt

Egypt-UAE Wind Power Venture backs a 200 MW wind farm near Suez on the Red Sea, led by Masdar, boosting renewable energy, wind farms capacity, clean power targets, and green investment in Egypt.

Egypt will sign a deal with Abu Dhabi's Masdar to build a 200 megawatt wind farm, part of a plan to generate 20 percent of the country's energy needs from renewable sources by 2020, an official said.

Egypt, an oil and gas producer, has been developing wind power and broader renewables initiatives along its eastern Red Sea coast. It already has wind farms at Zafarana and Hurghada in the area and now has installed capacity of 430 megawatts of wind energy.

"We will sign an agreement… to establish the first joint Emirati and Egyptian venture," said Aktham Aboul Ela, a senior official at the Electricity and Energy Ministry, as Egypt looks to natural gas and renewables to satisfy rising demand.

The plant will be located near Suez on Egypt's east coast, where officials plan to study windfarm performance under local conditions.

"The agreement will allow for the construction and start of implementation of the first 200 megawatt wind farm in the country, as Egypt moves to add 1,000 MW to its wind grid nationally," Aboul Ela told Reuters, adding other individual wind farm projects had lower capacity. He did not give a value.

Abu Dhabi's state-owned green energy firm Masdar has unveiled plans to invest $15 billion in renewable energy projects such as the world's flagship carbon-free city in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

The country aims to generate 12 percent of its power from wind farms, as part of a renewable plan with Germany and other partners, out of a total of 20 percent from renewable sources by 2020 and is seeking to attract $110 billion in investments in its energy sector by 2027.

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