The first 20 turbines at the West Bakr wind farm, which is located approximately 30 km northwest of the town of Ras el Ghareb in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt, have been successfully connected to the national grid.
This was announced by Lekela Power, an Africa-focused renewable energy company and the developer of the said project. The company said that synchronization is an important step to the completion of the entire project whose implementation begun back in September 2019.
“With the first turbines at the West Bakr wind farm reaching synchronization, we are one step closer to providing Egypt with clean, renewable wind power. This is an exciting milestone, but the fact that it is Lekela’s first project in the North African country really adds to the pride” said Faisal Eissa, General Manager Lekela in Egypt.
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The wind farm is due to become fully operational by the end of 2021.
Significance of the project
To begin with, the West Bakr wind farm project is part of the Egyptian government’s Build, Own Operate (BOO) scheme, a key part of the government’s ambitious aim to generate 20% of its electricity at the least from renewable sources by next year (2022).
It (the power plant) will produce over 1000 GWh of electricity every single year for approximately 20 years and prevent more than 550,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year over the same period.
In addition to electricity generation and Co2 emission prevention, the project has a long-term commitment to the nearby local community of Ras Ghareb including the establishment of a number of socio-economic initiatives.
Lakela is also protective of the Gulf of Suez’s rich biodiversity through the development of a ‘shut down on demand’ program to safeguard migrating birds.
