UAE, Egypt presidents witness signing of agreement to develop onshore wind project

The presidents of the UAE and Egypt witnessed the signing of an agreement on Tuesday to develop a 10 gigawatt (GW) onshore wind project in Egypt, reported Emirati state news agency WAM.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi oversaw the signature of the agreement between UAE’s renewable energy company Masdar and Egypt’s Infinity and Hassan Allam Utilities to develop the wind project, which is one of the largest wind farms in the world, WAM said.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, UAE Special Envoy for Climate, and Chairman of Masdar, and Dr Mohamed Shaker El-Markabi, Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy.

The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) that is being held in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh.

When completed, the 10 GW wind farm will produce 47,790 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of clean energy annually and offset 23.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

“The wind farm will also save Egypt an estimated US$5 billion in annual natural gas costs, and help create as many as 100,000 jobs,” WAM added.