Egypt greenlights proposal by OC-led consortium for new Gulf of Suez wind farm

A new wind farm in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez? The Egyptian government approved a proposal by an Orascom Construction-led consortium including Japan’s Toyota Tsusho and France’s Engie to build a new wind energy plant in the Gulf of Suez, according to a statement last week. Egypt has yet to begin talks with the companies on land allocation agreements, a government source at Egypt’s New and Renewable Energy Agency (NREA) told Enterprise Climate.

The details are still scant: The consortium is eying a farm with a generation capacity between 150-200 MW. The companies have yet to determine the exact generation capacity, investment ticket, or launch date for the project, Orascom Construction Vice President and Group Treasurer Nader Ragheb told us, adding that the specifics will be determined upon completion of the project feasibility studies.

The consortium has a whopping 3 GW pipeline in the country: The Orascom-led consortium finalized a land allocation agreement last month to build a 3 GW wind farm in Sohag that is expected to come online in 2028. The consortium also achieved financial close on the 500 MW Gulf of Suez wind plant in March, raising USD 501 mn in syndicated loans from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the Norinchukin Bank, and Société Générale.

Egypt is on a wind energy streak: The Egyptian government signed a land allocation agreement in July with Saudi renewables developer Acwa Power for its planned 10 GW wind energy plant in West Sohag. It also inked another land allocation agreement with Norway’s Scatec in the same month for its planned 5 GW Sohag wind farm. The announcement followed a similar agreement in June with a consortium comprising Infinity Power, Masdar, and Hassan Allam Utilities for their planned 10 GW wind farm.

And NREA just secured fresh capital to advance clean energy targets: The agency has secured EUR 500 mn from undisclosed financiers in a bid to achieve its target of having renewables comprise 42% of its energy mix by 2030 before upping generation capacity to account for 60% of the country’s electricity needs by 2040, the NREA source told us.