- Lekala Power has completed the first phase of its West Bakr wind farm.
- The farm comprises 20 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines.
- When completed, the plant will have a capacity of 250MW.
Independent Power Producer (IPP) Lekela Power is set to connect the first part of its West Bakr wind farm to Egypt’s national grid. When completed, the wind farm will have a total capacity of 250MW. Siemens Gamesasupplied 20 turbines for the completed first phase of the project. Siemens will deliver the remaining 76 turbines for the project by the end of the year for the second phase.
Lekala estimates that its wind farm will produce 1,000GWh of electricity annually, supplied to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) grid under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA). The plant will also reduce about 550,000 tonnes of CO2 every year and increase Egypt’s wind power capacity by 18 per cent.
The West Bakr wind farm is a joint venture between the British investment fund Actis and Mainstream Renewable Power. The plant moves Egypt closer to its target of 20 per cent of the energy mix generated by clean energy sources by 2022.
However, the deployment of wind turbines in the Gulf of Suez could have ecological implications; The wind turbines could impact the paths of migratory birds that travel between Europe and East Africa.