- The leaders meet to discuss and align views around wind energy development in Egypt. The site of the signing of the MoU
- Egypt has a role to play in developing the renewable energy capabilities of the Middle East, and, at the end of 2022, it was recorded that the country’s wind energy capacity reached 1.64 gigawatts.
ACWA Power, the world’s largest private water desalination company and a pioneer in green hydrogen, along with its status as a leader in energy transition, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) in Egypt. This agreement establishes the allocation of land for a significant 10 GW wind project.The MoU was officially signed at the Council of Ministers headquarters in the newly developed city of El Alamein. Dr. Mohamed El Khayat, Chairman of NREA, and Eng. Hassan Amin, Country Director – Egypt, ACWA Power, participated in the signing ceremony.
The MoU designates approximately 3,000 square kilometres of land situated west of Sohag, a prominent urban centre, for the wind project. The anticipated output of this wind project is about 50 thousand gigawatt-hours of clean energy annually, which will provide electricity to around 11 million households. Additionally, this initiative will help mitigate approximately 25.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
Speaking on this subject of Egypt’s energy sector transition was HE Dr Mohamed Shaker Al-Marqabi, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy. He said “Egypt has adopted an ambitious programme to advance the electricity sector in various fields, which includes maximising the utilisation of new and renewable energy resources, encouraging investment in these fields to enable energy independence from fossil fuels, continuing to reduce carbon emissions, and increasing renewable energy capacity in the energy mix up to 42% by 2035”
Distinguished guests present at the event included HE Dr Moustafa Madbouly, the Prime Minister of Egypt; HE Dr Mohamed Shaker, the Egyptian Minister of Electricity; Mr Mazyad bin Muhammad Al-Huwaishan, Consul General of Saudi Arabia in Alexandria; Eng. Sabah Mashaly, Chairman of EETC; and Marco Arcelli, CEO of ACWA Power. The MoU represents a significant milestone in the progress of this large-scale renewable energy venture.