Egypt: Desert Winds Stir New Hope

With oil and gas reserves running dry, the most populous country in the Arab world is eyeing wind power as a solution to its looming energy crunch.

Egypt relies on the burning of fossil fuels to satisfy about 85 percent of its electricity requirements. But with electricity consumption growing at 8 percent a year, and the country’s oil and gas reserves expected to dry up within 30-50 years, energy policymakers have taken an increasingly hard look at the potential of wind power.
The National Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), which manages Egypt’s clean energy portfolio, has mapped out a strategy to develop the country’s abundant wind resources.

“We are currently generating 400 MW of power from wind and will increase our capacity to 600 MW by mid-2010,” says Fathy Ameen Mohammad, vice- chairman for projects and operations at NREA. “Our goal is to generate 7,200 MW of wind power by 2020, which is about 12 percent of total electricity production.”

Energy experts believe it can be done.

A Wind Atlas for the country published in 2005 indicated that the coastal plain between Suez and Hurghada on Egypt’s Red Sea coast has sufficient wind resources to generate 20,000 MW. Egyptian and Danish researchers found average wind speeds on this plain exceeded 9 metres/second, comparable with the best North Sea conditions. Other candidate locations for wind power development include the Nile Valley and the Western Desert, where wind speeds average 6-7 metres/second.

AllAfrica