A consortium comprising Orascom Construction, France’s Engie, Japan’s Toyota Tsusho Corporation, and Eurus Energy Holdings has signed a contract with Egypt’s state-owned Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) to boost the capacity of a wind power project in Egypt to 650 megawatts.
According to a statement by Orascom Construction, the consortium extended its power purchase agreement with EETC to add 150 megawatts to the ongoing wind farm project in Ras Ghareb, originally planned with a 500-megawatt capacity. This expansion will bring the total capacity to 650 megawatts.
The plant’s first phase, with a capacity of 250 megawatts, is scheduled to be online in December 2024, two months ahead of the original deadline. The remainder of the capacity will be gradually brought online by the third quarter of 2025, according to the statement.
To achieve the additional 150 megawatts, the consortium will optimize the use of an adjacent plot of land, following a compressed timeline. This ensures that the full 650-megawatt capacity will be operational by the third quarter of 2025, as previously planned, even before the expansion.
The wind farm is set to provide clean energy to over one million homes in Egypt, reducing carbon emissions by approximately 1.3 million tons annually. This effort contributes to Egypt’s goal of increasing its renewable energy output as part of the national energy mix, aiming to reach 42 percent by 2030, up from 11.5 percent in 2023.
The consortium had previously developed a 262.5-megawatt wind farm in Ras Ghareb, the country’s first independent renewable energy project, which has been operational since October 2019. With the new expansion, the consortium’s total wind energy production in Egypt will rise to 912.5 megawatts.
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