CAIRO: Egypt aims to generate 12 percent of its electricity needs by wind power, said Hassan Younis, Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Energy, on Monday. The plan is to initiate wind farm projects with a capacity of 2,690 megawatts over the next five years. Tender offers for the wind farms will be invited during 2011, with the cooperation of German banks, the European Union, and the governments of Spain and Japan. Younis also called upon the private sector to develop 1,370 megawatts of wind-power capacity. Younis said the wind farms will be erected mainly around the Gulf of Suez, which is one of the Middle East's windiest regions. The Gulf of Suez is among the world's most suitable locations for wind energy, with a potential to developed capacity of at least 7,200 megawatts by 2022, according to the World Bank. Egyptians are already subject to long and frequent power cuts due to the country's aging and inadequate power-transmission grid. According to figures from the World Bank, Egypt's electricity needs grew on average by seven percent annually between 1997 and 2004, and will continue to grow by six to seven percent each year until 2014. BM
