Masts and turbines for the planned wind farm in Emsalata, 130 kilometres east of Tripoli, have been shipped to Khoms and are being taken to the site at the Al-Shaafeen national park.
The wind farm will be the first to operate in Libya. It is being developed by the Renewable Energy Authority of Libya (REAoL) and will comprise 16 turbines, each with a 1.65MW capacity. They are being supplied by Spanish manufacturer of wind power systems, M Torres Olvega Industrial (MTOI).
It was bought by SwissEnergy from Egypt’s El Sewedy in 2015, but the latter remains in charge of construction at Emsalata.
This was due to start last summer and be completed by the end of 2016, but was delayed. The project is now expected to come on-stream by the end of this year.
Another wind farm, at Derna’s Fataieh district, would have been Libya’s first. The contract for the $84-million pilot project was signed by the former regime with El Sewedy and MTOI. By mid-2013, 21 of the 37 turbines had been delivered.
However, the takeover of Derna by the so-called Islamic State which used Fataieh as its military base, put it on hold. A number of components destined for Fataieh were then diverted to the Emsalata project.
