Egypt to start building $11bn wind farm from 2024

Egypt to start building $11bn wind farm from 2024

The construction of one of the world’s largest wind farms in Egypt is set to start in 2024 and could provide electricity to Europe and Saudi Arabia, according to one of the main companies backing the $11bn project. A consortium that includes Abu Dhabi-owned Masdar and Infinity Power Holdings will finish building the 10-gigawatt onshore plant by 2030, said Mohamed Mansour, chairman of Infinity Power. That capacity is roughly one-fifth of what the UK has today for all forms of renewable energy. The Egyptian government will buy the power, some of which may be exported via existing and planned cables to Europe, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Libya, Mansour said in an interview at the COP27 climate summit in Sharm El-Sheikh. The companies expect to secure land for the project this year, he said. They are looking at two locations in Egypt’s Western Desert, one near Minya and the other Aswan, both of which have wind speeds that can reach 10 meters per second, according to Mansour. His uncle is an Egyptian billionaire with the same name. Governments and investors are pouring money into wind and solar plants around the world as they seek to transition away from fossil fuels and