Egypt to study windfarm performance
ZAFARANA, EGYPT - Egypt plans to produce 20 of the country's electric power generation from renewable energy resources by 2020. It plans to have eight windfarms with 702 wind turbines and a total capacity of 545 megawatts MW in the Zafarana area on the Red Sea coast, 180 kilometers southeast of Cairo.
These projects have a varied range of capacities and technologies. The Ministry of Electricity and Energy, through subsidiary New and Renewable Energy Authority NREA, has managed and implemented all wind energy projects in Egypt since 1986.
In July 2010, KFW Bank granted funds to NREA to tender for a consultant to evaluate Zafarana windfarm performance, in hopes of increasing productivity and extending the operating life of the 702 wind turbines. The bidding will be in two rounds. The first will short-list the qualified companies, and the second will select the winner to execute the study.
In September 2010, Sargent & Lundy LLC, Germanischer Lloyd SE, Fichtner GmbH & Company KG, TUV Rheinland and Intec submitted their documents to NREA for the first round of bidding. According to an unofficial statement, NREA announced the short-listed companies and confirmed that Sargent & Lundy is among them.
The bid is the first step toward involving the private sector in windfarm management, as the private sector investment will fund the building of 3,200 MW worth of windfarms through build-own-operate-based projects by 2020, under the national plan to install 7,200 MW of wind- and solar-based power generation by 2020.
Related News
California electricity pricing changes pose an existential threat to residential rooftop solar
LOS ANGELES - The California Public Service Commission has proposed changes in electricity pricing for residential customers who produce electricity through their rooftop solar panels. In a recent New York Times op‐ed, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger argued the changes pose an existential threat to residential rooftop solar. Interest groups favoring rooftop solar portray the current pricing system, often called net metering, in populist terms: “Net metering is the one opportunity for the little guy to get relief, and they want to put the kibosh on it.” And conventional news coverage suggests that because rooftop solar is an obvious good development…
