Masdar to build wind farm in Egypt

SUEZ, 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 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 agreementÂ… to establish the first joint Emirati and Egyptian venture," said Aktham Aboul Ela, a senior official at the Electricity and Energy Ministry.

The plant will be located near Suez on Egypt's east coast.

"The agreement will allow for the construction and start of implementation of the first 200 megawatt wind farm in the country," 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 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.