Ducab powers giant wind farm as UAE-Egypt trade ties strengthen

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Ducab Group, one of the UAE’s largest manufacturers, is supplying 633km of cable to a new Egyptian wind farm in a move that reinforces the strong industrial partnership between the two countries.

The Gulf of Suez project will play a key role in Egypt’s commitment to generate 42 percent of all electricity from renewable energy by 2035 and save around 600,000 tonnes of CO2 every year.

The 70-turbine farm will cover an area of 57 sq km to make it one of the largest wind power plants in Egypt and will contribute 250MW of renewable energy.

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Vestas, an engineering, procurement and construction contractor, has partnered with Ducab to supply the turbines.

The tie-up follows the opening of a new Dubai International Chamber representative office in Cairo which aims to build on the $7.5 billion bilateral trade registered in 2021.

Egypt was Dubai’s second highest trading partner on the African continent in 2021 and ranked 20th globally on the list of Dubai’s trading partners.

The number of Egyptian companies registered as members of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and operating in the emirate amounts to more than 14,700, more than double the number in 2016. 

The Cairo opening is part of the Dubai Global initiative to establish 50 offices in five continents by 2030 and to boost Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade to $544 billion by 2026.

“We are committed to supporting countries to achieve their sustainability ambitions and our solutions are in high demand for solar and wind power projects around the world,” Mohammed Almutawa, group CEO of Ducab, said.

In addition to the Gulf of Suez wind farm, Almutawa said Ducab has worked on a wide range of renewable energy projects in the Middle East including the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the Shams 1 project and the Al Barakah nuclear plant in the UAE.

The company has also initiated renewable energy projects across 55 countries and in April this year announced its first solar park partnership in Mexico.

As an Emirati brand, Ducab is aligned with Operation 300bn, the UAE’s national strategy to increase the industrial sector’s contribution to GDP to $81.7 billion by 2031.

In November, Amea Power in Dubai announced that it had achieved the finance to deliver 1GW of wind and solar energy projects in Egypt. This represents $1.1 billion of investment into the Egyptian economy and takes the company’s clean energy portfolio to 2GW in the country.

Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) executive board approved a 46-month $3 billion financial support package for Egypt.

The country’s finances, already suffering from high debt and a lack of foreign currency, deteriorated sharply after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which prompted foreign investors to pull $20 billion out of the country within weeks.

The new IMF deal is expected to catalyse additional financing of $14 billion, including investments, from Egypt’s international and regional partners.