Egypt allocates 5,200 sq km area for renewable energy development

Just after the government official in Egypt revealed that the country will be producing some 10,000 MW of renewable energy next year, the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) has now said that 5,200 square kilometer (sqkm) were allocated to establish renewable energy projects at different locations. The areas being allocated are meant for investments by public or private sector companies.

As per the revelation, NREA is allocated lands in the areas of Zafarana, Gulf of Suez, East Nile, West Nile, Aswan and Benban. The cumulative generation of power in these projects will be around 60,000 MW. As per the reports, these upcoming projects on these lands will be for 8 to 10 years. They will be developed within the framework of the state ambition to heighten renewable energy projects.

The East Nile, West Nile, Aswan and Zaafarana based renewable energy projects will generate over two million direct and indirect job opportunities. Once they are operational, the electric transmission network of Egypt will have more than 70% of the total electricity coming from clean sources.

As far as the individual land allocations are concerned, Zafarana has been given about 6.5 sqkm, the Gulf of Suez has 80 sqkm, East of the Nile has 1923 sqkm and West of the Nile gets 1,626 sqkm besides other areas.

At the beginning of the year, the New and Renewable Energy Authority report said that in 2021, Egypt had renewable energy capacity of 24000 GW/h. It also said that RE projects worth 3570 MW were in the process of development and attracting an investment of $3.5 billion.

Now the government aims at producing 10GW of renewable energy in 2023 and a government spokesperson stated that ongoing construction works include green hydrogen and ammonia plants that could help exports.

During the third quarter of financial year 2021-2022, the productivity of hydroelectric power touched 2,654 GWh, wind power projects generated 1133 GWh and the solar power production amounted to about 949 GWh. Egypt also produced 22 GWh from biofuel projects.