After nearly two years of construction, West Bakr Wind Farm that is located approximately 30 km northwest of the town of Ras Ghareb, on the shores of the Gulf of Suez in Egypt, has entered into the commercial operation phase.
With a total of 96 SG 2.6-114 (power 2 625 kW, diameter 114 m) turbines supplied and installed by Siemens Gamesa, a leader in the renewable energy industry, working to provide the world’s best offshore and onshore wind turbines and services, the onshore wind farm will generate over 1,000 GWh of green electricity annually.
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The electrical will be transmitted to an on-site collector substation from where it will then be evacuated to the national grid through a new 30km-long 220kV overhead transmission line connecting to a 500kV/200kV substation.
West Bakr Wind Farm: A huge achievement
Speaking during the launch of the commercial operations Chief Executive Officer at Lekela Power, Chris Antonopoulos explained reaching commercial operation of West Bakr Wind farm as a huge achievement considering that the construction works were carried out almost entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This proves that sources of clean, reliable energy can be constructed even during the most challenging conditions. We want to thank our partners and contractors, in particular Siemens Gamesa, for their work on the project,” said Mr. Antonopoulos adding that, “This wind farm will help push Egypt closer to its renewable energy targets and provide a significant uplift to Egypt’s wind power capacity.”
West Bakr Wind Farm will also offset more than 550,000 tonnes (t) of carbon dioxide emissions every single year over its minimum estimated operational life of 20 years.
