Power in the Land of the Pyramids

Wind Energy
Egypt
Power in the
Land of the Pyramids
In the future, wind power is to cover 12 % of the
electricity demand in Egypt. The Zafarana wind farm on
the Gulf of Suez will play a considerable role in this, and
is Africa’s largest.
E
Local maintenance
staff working at a wind
turbine Photos (2): Dieter Fries
214
gypt is one of those countries with over 20
­years of experience in the field of renewable
energy use. In 1986 the “New and Renewable
Energy Authority” (NREA) was set up on the basis of a
renewable energy concept as the Egyptian authority
for research and development in renewable energies.
Wind power provides the largest share of renewable
energy generation. It is planned to double the current
overall generating capacity of 20,000 MW in Egypt to
approx. 40,000 MW in the next ten years, in order to
be able to cover the expected rise in consumption.
Wind power is then to have a 12 % share in this.
­These are ambitious targets and will require a consid­
erable amount of investment.
Zafarana: 550 MW by the end of
2010
The birthplace of wind power in Egypt lies on the
northern edge of the town of Hurghada on the Red
Sea, where a wind power testing centre was estab­
lished in 1993 and the years following. This wind
farm consists of 42 turbines with a total capacity of
5.2 MW. They are of between 100 and 300 kW and
were supplied from Denmark, Germany and the USA.
The testing centre in Hurghada also carries out ane­
mometer calibrations.
The commercial use of wind power in Egypt began
in 2001 in Zafarana, which lies approx. 100 km south
of Cairo on the Gulf of Suez. The first projects were
mainly carried out with German and Danish support.
By the end of 2008, 422 turbines were in operation in
Zafarana with a total capacity of 310 MW. The wind
farm has its own control centre to monitor the tur­
bines as well as warehouses for the storage of large
Sun & Wind Energy 9/2009
spare part components. Service teams for maintain­
ing the wind farm are also stationed in Zafarana. This
includes living quarters for the personnel as well as
the centre’s own mosque.
The electricity is fed into the Egyptian grid at Ain
Sukhna via a transformer station built for the wind
farm and a 220 kV transmission line. A separate
transformer station is being built for the third project
supported by DANIDA (Danish International Develop­
ment Agency), which is also under construction, and
will be linked up to the same 220 kV line. The total ca­
pacity of the Zafarana wind farm is to reach 550 MW,
to be implemented by the end of 2010. The Spanish
company Gamesa will have secured the largest share
of this, with almost 500 installed turbines. This is
somewhat due to the fact that in the boom of the past
few years, few other manufacturers were prepared to
supply turbines for these projects.
The wind speeds in Zafarana reach 8 to 9 m/s in
good years. The turbines in operation there have thus
reached average annual yields of up to 1,600 kWh/
m² and the best turbines have achieved single annu­
al yields of over 1,800 kWh/m². Strong fluctuations in
wind availability have also occurred here in the last
few years, resulting in lower yields of up to 15 % in
some cases. Through the continued expansion this is
now one of the world’s largest wind farms. In the
summer months, when consumption through air-­
conditioning is also at its highest, the wind farm also
plays a part in covering peak demand in Egypt. The
high number of turbines does, however, lead to a
­lowering of individual turbine yields due to windshadowing effects.
Around 25 % of the several hundred million euro
investment costs for the wind farm has flowed into
the home economy. All of the infrastructure work such
as roads, cable trenches and foundations is carried
out by Egyptian companies. Among others, the trans­
former stations, most of the cabling and the wind tur­
bine towers, including the foundation sections, are
also manufactured in Egypt. For the projects so far,
the Egyptian company DSD Ferrometalco has been
the tower supplier.
Zafarana wind farm: turbines and power
Year
Manufacturer
Number of
plants
Type
Capacity (kW)
Total new capacity
(MW) in resp. year
2001
Nordex
50
N43
600
30
2002
Nordex
55
N43
600
33
2003
Vestas
46
V47
660
30
2004
Vestas
71
V47
660
47
2006
Gamesa
100
G52
850
85
2008
Gamesa
100
G52
850
85
2009
Gamesa
141
G52
850
120
2010
Gamesa
141
G52
850
Total
704
is estimated at 3,000 to 4,000 MW. Invitations for
taking part in the pre-qualification for a planned
250 MW Build-Own-Operate project have now been
published by the Egyptian grid operator EETC. The
necessary frameworks for private investors are cur­
rently being put together by the Egyptian govern­
ment. This includes, among others, the grid code and
the delineation of areas suitable for wind power use,
which are owned by the Egyptian State. As far as site
requirements are concerned, only IEC class 1 turbines
can be considered for the wind farms on the Gulf of
Suez. The turbines should also have been proven to
run safely at outdoor temperatures of 45 °C, in order
to reduce the number of potential outages.
Other large areas lie on both sides of the Nile, but
the wind power potential is significantly lower here,
at 300 to 400 W/m². There is room for wind farms of
over 10,000 MW on these areas and there are already
high-voltage transmission lines in this region, which
transport electricity to Cairo.
120
550
Already built and still to be
erected wind turbines of the
Zafarana wind farm
Source: NREA annual report
View over the wind farm to Sinai
Good resources over a
limited area
Egypt has good wind resources, but these are con­
centrated in limited areas (see wind atlas). Since the
beginning of wind power use in Egypt the NREA has
measured and studied the wind conditions in Egypt
together with the Danish testing centre Risø. The re­
sults were published in 2005 in the “Wind Atlas for
Egypt”.
The areas with the best wind conditions are on
the Gulf of Suez. The wind resources here at a height
of 50 m are approx. 500 to 800 W/m² with average
wind speeds of 7 to 10 m/s: in some areas more than
10 m/s even. These areas are in desert regions,
where there has so far been almost no infrastructure.
The suitable areas are also being used in parallel for
oil and gas production and the wind power potential
Sun & Wind Energy 9/2009
215
Wind Energy
Egypt
Wind resources in Egypt
3600
26°E
25°E
27°E
28°E
30°E
29°E
31°E
32°E
33°E
35°E
34°E
36°E
37°E
32°N
Mediterranean Sea
Sidi Barrani
3500
El-Mathany
Ras El-Hekma
31°N
Port Said
Alexandria
El-Galala
El Arish
3400
30°N
Katamaya
El-Suez
3300
Ras Sedr
NW Abu Darag
M7
Zafarana
3200
29°N
Nuweiba
Saint Paul
Northing [km]
Ras Ghareb
3100
28°N
Nabq
NW
Gulf of El-Zayt
Hurghada WETC
3000
Hurghada AP
27°N
Farafra
2900
26°N
Kosseir (62465)
Kosseir
Kharga
Red Sea
2800
25°N
800
600
2700
Dakhla South
24°N
Asswan
400
300
2600
23°N
200
2500
The largest wind power potential in Egypt is along the Gulf of
Suez (all figures in W/m2).
Source: Wind Atlas for Egypt
100
Abu Simbel
Shark El-Ouinat
22°N
0
2400
0
100
200
300
400
500
Source
Windatlas
for egypt
A large
market for
the
wind power sector
A potentially suitable area for wind power in the El
­Zayt region has been studied in the last few years
with funding by the German KfW development bank.
Over 50 % of this area is not being planned in for
wind farms due to bird protection issues. The first
projects in the region are being planned in the north­
ern part near the small fishing village of Ras Gharib.
Optimum yield even in extreme conditions
The Zafarana project is serving as a research wind farm for the energy management course
at the Technical College in Heilbronn, Germany. Together with Egyptian technical colleges
the scientists are working on new control methods for wind turbines. According to the col­
lege, the Zafarana site is especially suitable, as it has the world’s highest average wind
speed (approx. 9.5 m/s). Additionally, the weather conditions here are extreme, with a hot
desert climate, sand storms, and sometimes very humid and salt-laden air, which affect
the efficiency of energy generation. New control methods are to be tested in the research
project, which will guarantee optimum yields even in difficult operating conditions.
­Furthermore, the advantages of having a battery buffer storage are being studied, for when
the weather brings about strongly fluctuating energy generation.
Further information:
Hochschule Heilbronn, Heilbronn, Germany
Fakultät für Technik und Wirtschaft, Studiengang Energiemanagement
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim
Phone: +49/7940/1306-317
ibrahim@hs-heilbronn.de
216
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
Easting [km]
200 MW are being supported by the EIB (European In­
vestment Bank) in cooperation with the KfW. Detailed
planning for this is expected to start in the second
half of the year, so that – if planning proceeds swiftly
– the project can go into operation by 2012/2013. A
further 220 MW are being planned for this site with
Japanese support, and there are still numerous other
interested parties for sites in Egypt.
Additionally, private industrial investors such as
cement works, for example, are planning their own
wind farms in order to secure their own electricity
supplies. Organic farms are also planning wind pow­
er projects in order to become self-sufficient. Further­
more, there are also plans to make it possible to sell
on the electricity generated to other electricity con­
sumers.
The plans for the Egyptian wind power pro­
gramme have led to the internationally active Egyp­
tian cable manufacturer El Sewedy buying up a share
of the Spanish wind turbine manufacturer MTorres
and planning a plant for rotor blade and nacelle man­
ufacture by the Red Sea. The construction of a tower
manufacturing plant was also started here in 2008 in
partnership with the German tower manufacturer
SIAG.
All in all, Egypt wants to implement approx. 7,000 MW
of wind power capacity in the next ten years. This
­certainly makes the African country an interesting
market for the sector.
Dieter Fries
Sun & Wind Energy 9/2009
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