Securing energy demand on continuous bases is a vital element for sustained development plans and Egypt as a country of limited fossil fuel resources as well as growing electric energy demand has given due considerations to diversify its energy portfolio by utilization of its renewable energy resources, mainly wind due to its economical potential and solar as proved by Egypt''s wind and solar atlases. Supported by a sustained governmental commitment and a fruitful international cooperation a series of large-scale wind energy projects has been constructed, at the Gulf of Suez with a total capacity of 550 MW, at Zafarana and Hurghada areas. In the solar energy field, the first solar thermal power plant of 140 MW with a solar share of 20 MW is currently under construction and it is planned to be operated by the end of 2010. Recently, Egypt has adopted an ambitious plan to cover 20% of the generated electricity by renewable energy by 2020, including a 12% contribution from wind energy, translating more than 7000 MW grid-connected wind farms. Such plan gives a room enough to the private investment to play the major role in realizing this goal. Current study will focus on analyzing main challenges facing the target of reaching the 2020 goal of wind energy, such challenges as; The effect of loss of load probability in case of establishing these wind farms in three main areas; building sustainable financial schemes to implement nearly 700 MW yearly and cover the gap between the production cost and the selling price; finally building the requested infrastructure (i.e. substations, transmission cables, … etc) for transferring the generated electricity.
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