Egypt is stepping up its program of developing renewable energy sources as part of its plan to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, with wind energy being one of the favored options.
With Egypt’s electricity demands rising by 7% annually and the country’s fossil fuel reserves having a limited life span, Cairo has increasingly been looking to a future without oil and gas on tap to feed its energy needs.
The announcement late last year that Egypt was to resurrect its long-dormant civil nuclear energy program, with plans to have a nuclear power station operating within 10 years and others to follow, was a major part of the program.
However, while the government’s plans for nuclear power and a call by President Hosni Mubarak on September 21 for the peaceful use of nuclear energy made headlines, especially in the West, the proposal was only part of a wider push to find alternatives to fossil fuels. Most reports glossed over Mubarak’s statement at the closing session of the ruling National Democratic Party congress that Egypt needed to “benefit from sources of new and renewable energy” as well as nuclear.
Wind farms contract awarded
The latest step in this search for alternatives came at the beginning of February, when Egypt’s New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) announced it had awarded a $365 million contract to Spanish firm Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologia to equip two wind farms at Zafarana on the Red Sea. Under the order, Gamesa will provide 284 turbines with 850 kw generators, with construction due to begin in the first half of 2008.
The NREA, a division of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy established in 1986, has the task of identifying and developing potential alternative energy sources. Egypt has set a long-range target of meeting a minimum of 3% of its electricity needs from renewable energy resources by the year 2010 and up to 14% by 2022.
Studies undertaken by the NREA have shown that Egypt’s Suez Gulf region is one of the most advantaged in the world for the production of wind electricity, with the potential for wind farms to generate 20,000 MW of power. This, according to Samir Hassan, NREA’s chairman, is the equivalent of Egypt’s present requirements.
Today, 86% of Egypt’s electricity is supplied by thermal power stations, most of them gas-fired, with hydroelectric power plants on the Nile generating another 13% and other sources such as wind and solar providing the rest. The NREA plans to have installations with the capacity to generate 1050 MW by 2012 and 5000 MW by 2022.
Egypt’s current main wind energy plant is also located at Zafarana. It began operations in 2001 and, thanks to a number of extensions, 322 turbines now dot the landscape over an area of 150 km2. It was built with the support of Germany, Japan, Denmark and Spain.
The Zafarana project feeds into the national energy grid and the farm saves approximately 190,000 tons of fuel annually, resulting in a reduction of CO2 emissions by about 450,000 tons. Given that Egypt’s energy sector is responsible for 39% of the estimated 120 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, wind power has increasingly clean credentials.
Huge potential for wind
According to Anhar Hejazi, a member of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), wind power in Egypt and the region has huge potential.
Speaking at an ESCWA conference on energy issues in Doha on February 4, Hejazi said that Egypt served as an example for the use of alternative energy.
“There are experiences in the region that are very promising such as in Egypt, where 240 MW is provided by wind power and which is connected to a grid. Plans are afoot to increase the capacity to 850 MW,” she said.
While the NREA is the lead agency for wind energy, there is room for private enterprises to get into action. A number of Egyptian firms already provide wind turbines for private use, mainly on farms and small industry sites. However, with the Egyptian government’s long-standing plan to open up the electricity generation and distribution sector to private operators, opportunities are expected to arise for non-state wind farmers.
Of course, Egypt’s alternative electricity program does not just consist of wind power, with solar energy being another option. Egypt is constructing a solar powered station capable of turning out 150MW of electricity at Kuraymat, funded through a $97 million loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
While the NREA’s plans for wind energy are modest over the coming years, the necessity for an alternative to fossil fuels will drive the sector forward. With the cost of establishing wind farms gradually falling as new technology comes on line, Egypt’s wind driven energy industry could strike a blow for alternative energy.
