North African Wind Market: Goldwind Installs First Wind Turbine in Egypt
Münster, Germany - Away from the established wind energy markets, the Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Goldwind has completed the installation of the first wind turbine for its first project in Egypt, the Gulf of Suez II wind farm.
Once completed, the turbines are expected to generate around 2 billion kWh of wind power per year, which, according to Goldwind, is enough to cover the electricity needs of around 800,000 households.
The wind farm will be built and operated by Red Sea Wind Energy SAE. Red Sea Wind Energy SAE is a consortium of Engie (35%), Orascom Construction (25%), Toyota Tsusho Corporation (20%) and Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation (20%).
The project is intended to help accelerate Egypt's transition to renewable power generation and reduce CO2 emissions. The wind farm is part of the Nexus of Water-Food-Energy (NWFE) programme, an initiative presented by the Egyptian government at COP 27 in November 2022 to contribute to the energy transition.
The Gulf of Suez II wind farm project builds on the consortium's previous successes in developing Egypt's first Independent Power Producer (IPP) renewable energy project, which was completed ahead of schedule in October 2019. The new project will increase the developer consortium's wind power capacity in Egypt to around 760 MW.
The Chinese turbine manufacturer Goldwind, which is listed on the RENIXX World renewable share index, has displaced Danish wind power giant Vestas from the top position in the global ranking in 2022. According to an analysis by BloombergNEF (BNEF), Goldwind turbines with a total capacity of 12,700 MW (12.7 GW) were newly commissioned in 2022, almost 90 per cent of which were destined for the Chinese domestic market. Vestas commissioned wind turbines with a total capacity of 12,300 MW (12.3 GW) in 2022.GE Renewable Energy followed in third place with around 9,300 MW (9.3 GW).
Source: IWR Online, 01 Dec 2023
