The final blade of the T24 wind turbine in the Gulf of Suez was installed just before Chinese New Year, meaning all 77 turbines for the 500-megawatt wind power project have now been hoisted.
The Power Construction Corporation of China project is a significant milestone in green energy development.
Located in Ras Ghareb, a small town on the west coast of the Gulf of Suez, about 300 kilometers south of Cairo, the project is expected to generate approximately 2.7 billion kWh of clean electricity annually, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by around 1 million tons.
The project team overcame a series of challenges, including road construction, water transportation via tankers and generating electricity with diesel engines, with workers now engaged in the final stage of grid connection and power generation.
Finance for the project was provided by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation. Valerie Levkov, a member of the World Bank, visited the site and highly commended the project’s progress, praising the sense of responsibility demonstrated by the Chinese company.
Each wind turbine is equipped with a 2-meter-high monitoring device. “We’ve developed an intelligent settlement monitoring and trend analysis warning platform”, said project manager Zhang Zhe.
“Wind turbines are highly sensitive to uneven foundation settlement. Sensors embedded within the turbine foundations automatically upload data to the platform, which issues alerts and analysis if any irregularities are detected.”
Unlike traditional wind farms that rely on manual inspections with total stations, this intelligent monitoring system provides automated oversight, significantly improving efficiency, accuracy and safety.
At the project’s control center, large screens display real-time footage from 11 cameras monitoring the construction site. “Our smart construction management platform quickly identifies and responds to potential issues, providing comprehensive information support for the project”, said IT manager Zhi Wencai, adding that this is the first time such a platform has been implemented in Egypt.
The project has created about 700 jobs for local residents and has contributed to the local economy by stimulating demand for food, lodging and transportation.
(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)
