Renewables, Rabie (Global Wind Council): “Low wind production in MO and North Africa for now”

Cairo – “Currently, we do not have much wind power in the Middle East. In the 15 or so countries I follow, we have about 5 gigawatts of installed wind capacity. However, there are very ambitious goals for the future. For example, Saudi Arabia has an offshore capacity of about 78 gigawatts and an onshore capacity of 200. That’s just for Saudi Arabia alone,” said Heba Rabie, director for the Middle East and North Africa region of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), during CSEW, the Cairo Sustainable Energy Week underway in Cairo.

“There is no specific target for the entire region. For example, Egypt has a 42 per cent renewable energy target by 2030. There are similar targets for Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Morocco. If we look at the currently installed wind capacity, most wind energy comes from Morocco and Egypt. However,” she continued, “with increased interest in renewable energy, we expect more wind power in the Middle East region.