Electricity crisis : Wind energy Will the "Turkish experience" solve the Arab world's ?

In light of the severe electricity deficit witnessed by some Arab countries, the need for wind energy has become more evident than before in light of the continuous decrease in the cost of its production and the development of its technology. And it became easier if it benefited from the experience and expertise of Turkey in this field.

At a time when some Arab countries are suffering from a severe shortage of electric power supplies, Turkey is setting records in generating electricity from renewable energy sources, especially wind, which would be a ray of hope for the Arab world if it was able to reproduce the Turkish experience and benefit from Turkey’s experiences. And its products in the field of generating electricity from wind.

There is no doubt that the rise and depletion of oil and gas prices in some Arab countries opened the door wide to new sources of energy such as the sun and wind. Renewable energy sources have received tangible attention in recent years, especially from the low cost of establishing clean energy plants and the spread and abundance of their technology.

Wind is a vital source of renewable energy, but its disadvantage is that it is an intermittent source. This is why the wind turbine market is witnessing a remarkable development in light of the global trend to produce large turbines with high capacities in wind-scarce regions. The largest producer of wind energy equipment in Europe with 77 products, about 70% of which are exported to 45 countries around the world, with a total revenue of about $500 million.

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The Turkish experience and its records

Over the past two decades, Turkey has made great strides in employing its renewable energy sources to generate electricity. As of this year, Turkey has succeeded in generating 53% of its total electricity needs by relying on renewable energy sources. Perhaps its greatest qualitative leap was in generating electricity from its onshore and offshore wind energy, as it ranked 12th globally and 7th in Europe in producing electricity from wind energy after exceeding the threshold of 10,000 megawatts.

For the first time in the history of the Turkish Republic, wind energy became the largest source of electricity generation with a share of 22.6% on November 28, according to data published by the Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation (TEIAŞ) on Monday.

Breaking all previous records, Turkish wind power plants produced about 178,964 megawatt-hours out of a total of 791,794 megawatt-hours of daily electricity production across the country from various sources with its traditional fossil and renewable branches.

Turkey's installed wind capacity reached 10,585 megawatts, making it the second largest renewable capacity after hydropower, which produced a total of 28.5 gigawatts of installed electrical power in 2019. Natural gas power plants followed with a 22% share of electricity generation on Sunday Coal-fired power plants ranked third, with a share of 17.8%.

The Arab world Promising potential

In addition to its richness in traditional fossil energy sources of oil and gas, the Arab world also enjoys abundant sources of renewable energy, most notably solar and wind energy, in addition to hydroelectric energy used in some countries with large rivers such as Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Morocco.

Experts believe that the Middle East and North Africa region has distinct geographic areas that encourage the establishment of huge power plants through wind energy that exceeds 7 meters per second, starting with the Arab countries that overlook the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara, passing through the countries of the Red Sea basin, All the way to Salalah, Sultanate of Oman.

According to statistics published by the World Wind Energy Council in 2019, the countries of the Arab world, in addition to Iran, witnessed a quantum leap in wind energy investments, as the region now owns plants with a production capacity of about 5.7 gigawatts, after it was only about 300 megawatts in 2007. It is expected that energy growth will continue Electricity in the Arab world after installing 6.5 gigawatts of additional turbines by 2023, and about 12 more gigawatts by 2028.

Arab endeavors to enter the wind club

In light of the continuous decrease in the cost of production and the development of technology in the field of wind energy, the year 2019 witnessed an accelerated growth in the number and size of wind energy facilities constructed by some Arab countries, in order to meet the increasing demand for electricity generated from renewable and clean energy sources.

At the end of 2019, Egypt inaugurated the first commercial farm to produce electric power installed with wind, and with a total of 125 turbines, the Egyptian Ras Ghareb plant in the Gulf of Suez is able to produce about 262.5 megawatts of electricity, as part of a government plan to generate 20% of the total electricity that the country needs. from clean sources by 2022, to rise to about 42% by 2035.

For its part, the Sultanate of Oman announced in 2019 the establishment of the first and largest wind farm to produce electricity in the Arab Gulf region, at an estimated cost of about $125 million, and with an annual production capacity of about 160 gigawatts/hour. In the same year, Saudi Arabia announced its intention to launch the Duma plant project. Al-Jandal wind power plant in Al-Jawf region, northwest of the country, with a total capacity of about 400 megawatts.