MENA , Ahram Online , Wednesday 1 May 2024Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly witnessed on Wednesday a ceremony for inking two land deals to implement two projects to establish stations for generating electricity from wind energy in west Sohag, Upper Egypt.The ceremony was held in the presence of Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker and Norwegian Ambassador to Egypt Hilde Klemetsdal.The government seeks to increase the use of new and renewable energy resources and encourage investments in this promising field, Madbouly said. This approach will contribute to reducing the use of fossil fuel and carbon emissions and achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs).Both projects have a production capacity of eight gigawatts of wind energy, Shaker said.They will be implemented in collaboration with the private sector under a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) system, he added.  Scatec ASA Company will execute the first project with a production capacity of five gigawatts, while the second project, led by Orascom Construction, targeting the production of three gigawatts, will be executed in several stages in cooperation with the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA).Shaker added that the foreign direct investments for these projects are estimated at about $9 billion.  He noted that the two projects are being implemented within the framework of memoranda of understanding (MoU) signed between the developers, from one side, and the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) and the NREA from the other side during COP27 in November 2022.The minister emphasized that these projects are the largest of their kind for wind power generation in the Middle East and among the largest onshore wind energy projects globally.The two projects come within the framework of the strategy of the Egyptian energy sector which targets increasing the participation of renewable energy sources to 42 percent by 2030, he said, adding they will contribute to cutting 17 million tons of carbon emissions annually, and decreasing the use of traditional energy sources.Since June 2015, Egypt has been self-sufficient in electricity and currently has an electricity surplus of over 25 percent.However, Egypt resumed daily power cuts in mid-April after a brief hiatus for the holy month of Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr vacation.The load-shedding programme began in July 2023 to alleviate the mounting pressure on the country's gas network, strained by rising temperatures and the use of air conditioners.In October 2023, the Egyptian government extended the duration of the daily power cuts, driven by increasing temperatures and a decline in gas imports. (ICE IL CAIRO)

Fonte notizia: https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/522923.aspx