RIYADH: A giant wind farm set to provide power to 11 million Egyptian households is a step closer to being built after Saudi firm ACWA Power signed a deal related to the land for the project. The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by the company and Egypt’s New and Renewable Energy Authority, will see approximately 3,000 sq. km of land west of Sohag set aside for the development. The agreement is the next step in the project’s timeline following an MoU between ACWA Power, the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, and NREA in November 2022. The wind farm is set to be one of the largest in the region and is expected to generate around 50,000 gigawatt-hours of clean energy annually, mitigating the impact of 25.5 million tons of carbon emissions each year. The MoU was signed at the headquarters of the Council of Ministers in the city of El Alamein by Mohamed El Khayat, chairman of NREA, and Hassan Amin, country director – Egypt of ACWA Power. Also present at the signing ceremony was CEO of the firm Marco Arcelli, who said: “Today"s signing furthers our commitment to driving sustainable development and powering Egypt"s future with clean, reliable, and renewable energy. “We are determined to harness the vast potential of wind power, creating jobs, reducing emissions, and ensuring a greener and brighter future for Egypt, in alignment with ACWA Power"s vision for a sustainable planet.” The 10 GW wind power plant is expected to provide the Egyptian economy with $6.5 billion savings in annual natural gas costs, in addition to creating up to 120,000 direct and indirect jobs. Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker Al-Marqabi, was at the signing ceremony, and said: “This project is also an extension of the historical relations between the Egyptian state and the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and reflects the bonds of fruitful and constructive cooperation between the two countries. “We foresee that the positive contributions with financing institutions and development partners, as well as the comparative advantages of Egypt in terms of the availability of land, will show that Egypt has what it takes to produce renewable energy for domestic consumption and export.”