Spanish wind turbine-maker Siemens Gamesa has received an order to supply 125 of its G97-2.1MW turbines for a 262.5MW wind farm in Egypt.
The wind farm will be located near the Gulf of Suez. The order was placed by a consortium that included French energy company Engie, Japanese independent power producers Toyota Tsusho and Eurus Energy, and the Egyptian engineering and construction firm Orascom Construction.
The wind farm is claimed to be the first privately-backed project that is being developed in the country, where until now, all the wind farms have been backed by Egyptian renewable energy promotion body New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA).
As per the order, Siemens Gamesa has also been given the responsibility to handle the wind farm’s maintenance for a period of 15 years, besides supplying and commissioning the wind turbines.
Installation and commissioning of the turbines is expected to be completed by July next year and the wind farm could be operational by the end of next year.
According to Siemens Gamesa, this is claimed to be the largest order secured in the country, where it has installed more than 890MW till date.
Siemens Gamesa has also stated that Egypt is one of the 15 countries that offers a great potential for growth for the company as it is anticipated to install more than 6.5GW of wind power capacity by 2026.
In October last year, the company inaugurated a new blade manufacturing facility in Tangier, Morocco which will serve the demand for wind turbines in Africa and the Middle East region.
The facility is expected to produce 75 meter-long blades, which will equip SWT-DD-130 platform turbines with a power rating of up to 4.2MW.
Image: The wind farm is claimed to be the first privately-backed project. Photo: Courtesy of Miguel Arbe/FreeImages.com.