Cop 27: UAE to help develop 10GW windfarm in Egypt

Abu Dhabi's state-owned renewables company Masdar is partnering with two Egyptian firms to develop a 10GW onshore wind farm project in Egypt - one of the largest in the world.

As per the terms of an initial agreement signed between UAE minister of industry Sultan al-Jaber and Egypt's minister of electricity and renewable energy Mohamed Shaker al-Markabi, Masdar will team up with Egypt's Infinity Power, a joint venture between Masdar and Egypt's Infinity, and domestic engineering firm Hassan Allam Utilities to develop the project.

"The scale of this mega 10GW onshore wind project is a testament to the renewable energy ambitions of the UAE and the Republic of Egypt and demonstrates Masdar's status as a global leader in clean energy," al-Jaber, who is also the chairman of Masdar and the UAE's special climate envoy, said.

Once complete, the 10GW windfarm will produce 47,790GWh of clean energy annually, and offset 23.8mn t of CO2 emissions, the companies said. This is equivalent to "around 9pc of Egypt's current CO2 emissions".

The project will be part of Egypt's Green Corridor initiative - a grid dedicated to renewable energy projects - and will contribute to Egypt's long-term plan of delivering 42pc of its energy needs from renewables by 2035.

"The project will enable the country to save vast amounts of natural gas, thereby attaining economic growth, reduce carbon emissions and provide greater access to sustainable energy sources," Infinity Power chairman Mohamed Ismail Mansour said. The firms said the project should also save Egypt around $5bn in annual natural gas costs.

Today's agreement comes on the back of preliminary deals signed between Masdar and Hassan Allam Utilities in April to develop 4GW of green hydrogen production plans in the Suez Canal Economic Zone on the Mediterranean.

In the first phase of that project, a green hydrogen manufacturing facility will be developed and operational by 2026 and be able to produce 100,000 t/yr of e-methanol for bunkering in the Suez canal. The electrolyser facilities can be extended to up to 4GW by 2030 to produce 2.3mn t of green ammonia for export, and also to supply green hydrogen for local industry.

By Nader Itayim