Siemens Gamesa is negotiating with the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) to acquire land for the construction of 500 MW wind stations. A source in the ministry told Daily News Egypt that Siemens Gamesa acquired an area of land in Ras Gharib to produce energy worth 180 MW, but the measurements and studies conducted throughout the last period confirmed that wind speeds at the site are low, which prompted the company to try and obtain land in another area to capitalise on higher wind speeds. The source said that current negotiations and consultations resulted in providing enough land for the construction of 500 MW in a location that was assigned to another company in Ras Gharib, but Siemens Gamesa is still in the stage of comparison, selection, and measurement of wind speeds. NREA executive Chairperson Mohamed Al-Khayyat said that negotiations with Siemens Gamesa are still underway, and the lands are available to all interested investors to implement renewable energy projects. Once the land agreement is reached, an agreement will be signed via a usufruct system. The sources indicated that Siemens Gamesa is also holding talks with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) to find out the possibility of a transformer station to transfer the energy produced from the project, as well as determining the stations' vision and their number. The cabinet agreed last year to contract with Siemens Gamesa to implement projects to generate 500 MW electricity from wind power by BOO system, by contracting with the EETC, at the lowest price reached, and with the same contractual terms from the last tender. The projects approved by the Council of Ministers are part of the Siemens wind power plants with a capacity of 2,000 MW during the economic conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in 2015, and entered the framework of implementation and negotiation 3 years ago. Siemens and Gamesa signed an agreement in 2016 to merge Siemens's wind power business, including services, with Gamesa to create an international entity in the wind energy sector. The combined capacity of Siemens and Gamesa wind energy products in Egypt is now 1000 MW.
