CAIRO: Egypt’s ministry of electricity announced on Monday plans to increase its investments in energy by $110 billion by the year 2027 as part of its push toward creating renewable energy resources. One of those projects, the ministry said, was a 550 megawatt wind farm planned for June 2010.

“We need the involvement of the private sector and national Egyptian companies working in electricity to make the $110 billion investment possible,” Hassan Younes told reporters on the sidelines of an investment conference in Cairo.

The minister said Egypt would add 120 megawatts to its current 430 megawatts of wind energy by June 2010. Companies are currently looking into the details of the ministry’s requirements and are likely to begin work in the near future on this improvement and another two wind farms in the country.

“We will have 550 megawatt in one area on the Red Sea coast. I think you will not find this amount in any point in the world,” Younes said.

He added that 34 international companies presented bids to build wind farms and 10 were chosen to begin setting up operations.

“There is a lot of interest in Egypt in this field,” Younes said.

The ministry also said Egypt had strong solar energy potential due to low rain and clouds and year-round sun. However, a number of leading environmental experts have said solar power will not be profitable in the cities due to the shade that neighboring structures create on roofs, making it not a likely candidate for using it on a mass scale.

BM

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