The 252 MW Gulf of Suez 1 (GOS1) Wind Power Plant consists of 70 wind turbines with a capacity of 3.6 MW each. It is located at the Red Sea near Ras Ghareb and Hurghada.
| Client | New & Renewable Energy Authority, Ministry of Electricity & Renewable Energy, Cairo, Egypt |
|---|---|
| Location | Red Sead Coast, Ras Ghareb, Egypt |
| Period | May 2021 - ongoing |
| Capacity | 252 MW |
The 252 MW Gulf of Suez 1 Wind Power Plant consists of 70 wind turbines with a capacity of 3.6 MW each. It is located at the Gulf of Suez (Red Sea) near Ras Ghareb, approximately 120 km north-west of Hurghada. Due to the increasing energy demand in Egypt, the Egyptian Government decided to implement the wind farm to produce green and ecofriendly energy The annual electrical energy generated by the Wind Farm is equivalent to the electricity consumption of more than 400,000 Egyptian households. Thus, more than half a million tons of CO2 emissions are saved by the wind farm every year. The project is financed by KfW Development Bank (leading financing agency) in cooperation with the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the French Development Agency (AFD). The Wind Power Plant is in operation since December 2023, with a projected lifespan of min 20 years.
The Red Sea Coast is known for large bird migration, mainly White Storks and White Pelicans. In order to protect the up to 40 different bird species, bird watchers are observing the surrounding of the wind farm during migration periods from August to November and from February to May with telescope and binoculars. As flocks of birds are being observed, the bird watchers give commands to the Wind Farm operators to shut-down the respective wind turbines in order to protecting the birds from collision with the rotating wind turbine blades. The loss of energy due to these shut-downs is expected to be less than 0.5%.
White storks
