The United States government’s development finance institution- Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), led by its acting president and CEO Mr. David Bohigian, has approved US $87m worth of funds in favor of development, construction, and operation of the Lekela Egypt Wind Power BOO S.A.E. project.
Speaking during the approval ceremony, Mr. Bohigian said that energy security remains a critical barrier to sustainable growth in Egypt and by diversifying the country’s energy sources, decreasing costs to consumers, and enhancing power generation capacity, the Lekela wind farm project will expand electricity access in the Arabian country as well as create economic opportunities that empower the Egyptian people.
The acting president and CEO also noted that the institution’s support will mobilize not less than US $250m in additional capital to finance the project.
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The Lekela’s wind farm project
The project, located 30 kilometers north-west of Ras Ghareb near the Gulf of Suez, is a part of the Egyptian Government’s Build, Own, Operate (BOO) framework and it is also in line with the states ministry of electricity and renewable energy’s ambition to produce 20% of the entire energy for the Arab Republic of Egypt from renewable resources by 2022, and over 42% by 2035.
It will be executed on a turnkey basis by an engineering, procurement as well as construction (EPC) contractor yet to be announced, however three companies which are Siemens Gamesa, Vestas, and Senvion have already made their bids for the project.
Upon completion that is slated for 2021 the development is anticipated to produce over 1000 GWh per year of clean, reliable power at a highly competitive price, powering more than 350,000 homes and saving more than 550,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
