Maersk is looking to snap up Egypt’s Zafarana wind farm: The Egyptian government has received an offer from Denmark’s global shipping company Maersk for the acquisition of the state-owned 545 MW Zafarana wind farm, a government source told Enterprise Climate. The global shipping giant is reportedly looking to acquire the farm to use the generated renewable energy to support its own green hydrogen projects, they said. The news was first reported by Al Mal.

What we know: The Egyptian government, the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE) and the country’s Electricity Minister were currently studying the presented offer, Al Mal quotes its sources as saying. They are also assessing assets related to its leading state-owned 580 MW Gabal El Zeit wind farm and Zafarana wind farm after receiving acquisition bids from global unnamed investors.

REMEMBER- Gabal El Zeit and Zafarana were included in the list of 32 companies and assets earmarked for privatization announced by the government earlier this year. The farms have attracted significant interestamong investors, including Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, the UAE’s Alcazar Energy, and our friends at local renewables firm Infinity.

Gabal El Zeit wind farm has been garnering interest: UK private equity giant Actis threw its hat in the ring to acquire the Gabal El Zeit wind farm last week, a government source confirmed to EnterpriseAM. An SFE-led committee including representatives from the finance, electricity, and planning ministries reviewed multiple initial offers, the source told Enterprise, with Actis getting top marks for both its financial offer and technical know-how. The UK-based EM giant will be given full access to the data and the asset ahead of making a final offer.

What’s next: The Egyptian government is looking to secure over USD 300 mn by selling the Gabal El Zeit wind project, Planning Minister Hala El Said said last week, adding that it accepted the highest bid in June after receiving a number of non-binding offers. The buyer will be given 60 days to conduct due diligence on the asset, which the government expects will see the sale wrap up by October.

Maersk was already one of Egypt’s besties: Maersk unveiled plans last year for a USD 15 bn clean fuel project in Egypt as part of the Egyptian government’s plans to position the country as a regional hub for green energy. It plans to work with the Egyptian government to set up a national network to produce and distribute green energy and fuel for ships. The Egyptian Cabinet also approved in May requests by Norwegian renewables producer Scatec and Maersk to allocate a piece of land in the Gulf of Suez for a 320 MW wind farm that will power their green projects, which include a green hydrogen plant and the USD 15-bn clean fuel project for the latter.

Is there more coming down the pipeline? The government source told Enterprise Climate he expects the government to offer other potential investments in the Gulf of Suez by December amid a growing interest by investors in renewable energy projects in the current period.

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