The United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Tuesday, June 6, partnered with Egypt to establish the biggest wind power plant in Africa.
With the partnership, Kenya will have the second wind power farm in Africa, Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP), in Turkana County.
Egypt will construct a Ksh1.4 trillion (USD 10B) 10-gigawatt onshore wind farm aimed at being one of the largest wind farms globally.
The wind farm will also help Egypt meet its strategic objective of sourcing 42 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2030. It will further save the North African nation an estimated Ksh695 billion (USD 5 billion) in natural gas costs a year.
This project is part of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company's (Masdar) commitment to supporting African nations in achieving their renewable energy objective.
In line with the mission, Masdar also signed a deal to develop renewable energy projects in Angola, Uganda, and Zambia.
Through the project, Egypt is expected to cut carbon emissions by 23.8 million tonnes annually. Furthermore, it will also help Egypt meet its objective of sourcing 42 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2030.
Several leaders were at the signing, including Egyptian Prime Minister, Moustafa Madbouly, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Dr Mohamed Shaker El-Markabi, Minister for Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, Nayer Fouad, Chief Executive Officer of Infinity Power, and Hassan and Amr Allam, Chief Executive Officers of Hassan Allam Holding.
"Egypt has an ambitious program to advance the Egyptian electricity sector in various fields, foremost of which is optimizing the use of new and renewable energy resources and encouraging investment in this field, " noted the Electricity Minister.
"This project not only positions us as a leading provider of renewable energy but also strengthens the growing relationship between the Emirates and Egypt," added CEO Fouad.
Meanwhile, in 2019, former President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the project in Turkana aimed at generating around 310 megawatts of power and increasing the country's electricity supply.
"We again raised the bar for the continent as we unveil Africa's single largest wind farm. Kenya is without a doubt on course to be a global leader in renewable energy," Uhuru stated.
According to data from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) released in March, wind-generated power grew between June and December 2022 to 1,148.6 Gigawatt hours (GWh), an 8.5 per cent growth from a similar period in 2021.
