ACWA Power and its partner HAU Energy (a subsidiary of Hassan Allam Utilities) have achieved financial close for the 1.1 GW Suez Wind Farm in Egypt. This project secured a $ 703.6 million senior debt facility from a consortium of banks. These were namely the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the African Development Bank (AFDB), the British International Investment Corporation, the German Investment Corporation, the OPEC Fund for International Development, and the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP).
Furthermore, EBRD’s contribution included a B loan structure facilitated by Standard Chartered Bank and Arab Bank. The project is situated in the Gulf of Suez and Gabal El-Zeit area and involves a total investment of $1.2 billion. ACWA Power holds a 70 per cent share in the project, while HAU Energy owns the remaining 30 per cent.
Additionally, the project will be developed in two phases, each with a capacity of 550 MW. It has a total of 138 turbines. Each turbine will have a capacity of approximately 8 MW and a height of around 210 meters. It is expected to achieve commercial operations by the second quarter of 2027.
ACWA Power has been expanding its presence in Africa. Earlier in October 2024, ACWA Power announced that its Redstone Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant in South Africa had achieved 50 MW capacity and is poised to reach its full 100 MW capacity shortly. In December 2023, ACWA Power signed the framework agreement to outline the development of the first phase of the green hydrogen project in Egypt. The project will have a capacity of 600,000 tonnes-per-year of green ammonia, with an investment in excess of $4 billion. Further, the project will be scaled up to a second phase with a potential capacity of 2 million tonnes-per-year.
REGlobal’s Views: ACWA Power has been present in Egypt since 2015. The company has various other renewable energy projects in Egypt, that are under implementation or already operational. These include a 120 MW solar PV project in Benban, a 200 MW solar PV facility in Kom Ombo, and the 1.1 GW Suez Wind Energy project. Moreover, a large-scale green hydrogen project has also been announced. All these developments will help ACWA Power to maintain its maintain its lead in the country’s growing clean energy market.
