CAIRO - Egypt's Ministry of Electricity will launch in January a tender for 1,000 megawatt wind power stations in the Gulf of Suez, Minister of Electricity Hassan Younes said. The new four power facilities will be set up according to the build, operate and own (BOO) system, and bidders will be selected from local and foreign investors, Younes added. “The fisrt stage of the tender will be in January to generate 500 megawatts (2x250 megawatts). The second, to produce 500 megawatts (2x250 megawatts) will be in July,” Younes said. The new tender comes in line with an existing 250-megawatt wind farm built through BOO system, according to Younes. “The new project is part of an overall plan to raise the share of the private sector in generating wind power to 67 per cent of a total 7,200 megawatt capacity by 2020,” he added. Egypt has publicly owned wind farms in the Zafarana area, south of the Gulf of Suez, with a capacity of 520 megawatts, and small research and development wind park in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada. The country's electricity generated from existing wind farms accounts for roughlytwo per cent of the country's total installed power capacity of approximately 25 gigawatts, according to official reports.
