Siemens Gamesa has bolstered its presence and commitment to the growth of clean energy in Egypt, with the commercial operation of the 250 MW West Bakr Wind farm located 30 kilometres north-west of Ras Ghareb in the Gulf of Suez area.
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The company has successfully installed 96 SG 2.6-114 wind turbines for the renewable power generation company Lekela through a turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract. The company will provide a long-term maintenance through a 15 year service agreement.
The wind farm is now fully operational for the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company and the New and Renewable Energy Authority.
It is the first renewable energy project in Egypt to be energized through a 220 kV Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) developed by Siemens Energy, that is highly reliable and requires a minimal amount of maintenance.
As part of the Government’s public private partnership Build, Own and Operate (BOO) scheme, the wind farm will provide an additional 250 MW of clean energy to the grid, supporting the country to achieve its target to increase the percentage of electricity generated from renewable sources to 42% by 2035. The project will also prevent more than 530,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
With more than 600 people involved in the project, from over 10 different nationalities, the wind farm created local jobs with 85 percent being Egyptian which impacted the local economy.
Seventy percent of the project construction scope was delivered by local partners with all civil and most electrical and logistical work being handled by local subcontractors. All the wind turbine towers were also produced in Egypt.
Further a Community Investment Plan has been established to focus on enterprise, education, and environment initiatives to redress the socio-economic development challenges faced by the societies in the country.
A plan was implemented that monitors the flight patterns of birds in the area aiming to control operations through the application of various mitigation options, including a shutdown on demand programme, during the migratory seasons throughout the project’s lifetime as per the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) guidelines, in order to ensure all wildlife is protected.
A two million hours without Lost Time Incidents has been recorded since the start of the construction in January 2020. Furthermore, the project was completed in complex weather conditions with higher than usual wind speeds which did not impede the safe and successful execution or cause major delays. ■
Under an intense surge of arctic air, Friday morning will begin with the coldest temperatures so far this season across much of the central and eastern U.S. with blustery conditions and a piercing wind chill.