Electricity Ministry to sign $2.2bn wind farm deal with Vestas in May

The Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy plans to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Danish company Vestas to build a wind farm in May worth $2.2bn. A senior official in the ministry said Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker met with Denmark’s ambassador to Cairo and a number of officials from Vestas to discuss the company’s offer to build a number of wind farms with a 2,200 MW capacity. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Daily News Egypt that the minister vowed to study the Danish offer and sign a MoU within four weeks. Shaker also urged for the Danish company’s officials to present proposals to develop the Zafarana power station, which currently has 117 turbines producing 80 MW. The development and modernisation of the station will increase its efficiency and service ability. The offer submitted by Vestas includes the establishment of wind farms with a total capacity of 2,200 MW. The first wind farm, which will have a capacity of 250 MW, is expected to be built as soon as the MoU is signed with the ministry. According to the official, the investor will provide the required financing for the project, while the ministry will repay the company after the project’s completion. The official added that Vestas has a number of banks in mind that could finance the project, including HSBC, EKF Denmark, Euler Hermes, IFU Denmark, DANIDA, and CDP Banco. Vestas made a formal bid for the New and Renewable Energy Authority in June 2015 to establish wind farms in the area west of the Nile River, but the authority’s deals with Siemens delayed the agreement’s conclusion. He explained that the planned project will be built on an area of about 1,600 sqkm. The study of wind speeds and bird migration as well as the topography of the land is expected to take 12 months. New and Renewable Energy Authority chairperson Mohamed Salah Sobky said the authority is working on the establishment of new solar plants and wind farms in cooperation with the private sector through tenders, direct contracts or the feed-in tariff. Sobky added that there are many promising investment opportunities in the field of renewable energy production, pointing out that the state’s discussions with the financiers, developers and investors give some sort of guarantee in the electricity production system so as to agree on the projects’ details before the implementation process.