Independent Power Producer Lekela Power is connecting the 1st part of its West Bakr wind farm to Egypt's national grid. The facility will eventually have a capacity of 250 Megawatt.
The Egypt government is moving closer to its goal of generating 20 per cent of the national grid’s electricity from renewable sources by year 2022. This is mainly thanks to the IPP like Lekela Power. This joint venture between the British investment fund Actis and Mainstream Renewable Power is connecting 20 wind turbines from its West Bakr wind farm to Egypt’s national grid.
The remaining 76 turbines will be delivered before the end of this year by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, which has secured the contract to build the farm from its owner Lekela, before starting work in year 2019. The West Bakr wind farm is located at a distance of 30 km from the town of Ras Ghareb in the Gulf of Suez and will eventually have a capacity of 250 Megawatt thanks to 96 wind turbines supplied and installed by Siemens Gamesa.
Phase 2 To Be Commissioned In The Coming Months
“This is always an exciting milestone, but the fact that this is Lekela Power’s 1st project in Egypt only adds to the sense of pride. The 250 Megawatt wind farm will increase Egypt’s (installed) wind capacity,” says Faisal Eissa, Lekela Power’s managing director in Egypt.
The Amsterdam based Independent Power Producer estimates that its wind farm will produce around 1,000 GWh of electricity per year. Its output will be fed into the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company grid under a power purchase agreement, over a period of 20 years. West Bakr will be able to power 350,000 Egyptian homes while avoiding the emission of 550,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. According to Lekela Power, the West Bakr wind farm will increase Egypt’s wind power capacity by 18 per cent.