Sign in
Land secured for USD 1.5 bn mega wind farm in Egypt: A consortium led by Saudi’s Acwa Power, which includes Egypt’s Hassan Allam Utilities, signed a 25-year land usufruct agreement with the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) for its 1.1 GW wind farm in the Gulf of Suez, according to a joint statement (pdf) published last week. The consortium is set to begin site studies for the USD 1.5 bn project, which is expected to reach financial close by 4Q 2024 and begin commercial operations by the end of 2026.
About the project: In June 2022, Acwa Power and Hassan Allam Holding — Hassan Allam Utilities’ parent company — signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) to develop the project under a build-own-operate framework. Once completed, the project is set to become the largest on-shore wind farms in the Middle East, and one of the largest in the world
Mega project = mega CO2 savings: The project is set to power over 1 mn households and offset 2.4 mn tons of CO2 emissions a year when operational, the statement said, adding that land use efficiency will be maximate as a result of a higher wind turbine tip height of 220 meters — the tallest in the Gulf of Suez region.
Acwa’s big ambitions: Acwa Power aims to capture a 50% share of Egypt’s renewables market by 2026, CEO Marco Arcelli said last year. Arcelli explained that a planned USD 10 bn green investments allocated for Egypt will be disbursed within three years.
More megaprojects are in the pipeline: Acwa is also building a 10 GW wind farm in Sohag governorate, which will be one of the largest in the world when it’s operational, coming second only to China’s planned 20 GW Gansu project.
