AfDB mulls funding Egyptian 1.1 GW wind farm: The African Development Bank (AfDB) is considering financing Acwa Power and Hassan Allam Utilities’ 1.1 GW wind farm in the Gulf of Suez, according to environmental studies published on the lender’s website. Construction on the project is expected to begin in 4Q 2024 and continue on for 30 months, according to the documents. The wind farm is slated to start commercial operations in late 2027 and will operate for 25 years.

Refresher: The wind farm — the largest of its kind in the Middle East — has a price tag of USD 1.5 bn. Acwa and Hassan Allam Utilities signed a 25-year land usufruct agreement with the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) back in January.

The AfDB study outlined the design of the project: The report — prepared by Egypt’s EcoConServ, Safe Soar, and Jordan’s ECO Consult for the Egyptian Regional Centre for Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency — has examined two plots of land which make up the 1.1 GW facility. Both plots are located within the Ras Gharib in Egypt’s Red Sea governorate and span 300 sqkm and 656 sqkm respectively. Each plot will have 69 wind turbines installed with a capacity of 8 MW each.

Investors have shown interest: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) completed the review for a potential USD 75 mn equity investment into Egypt’s renewables sector in January, with Hassan Allam Utilities’ wind farm standing as a top contender. The Sovereign Fund of Egypt also considered acquiring a minority stake in the wind farm under the terms of an MoU signed with the Saudi renewables developer in 2022, which could see it “potentially acquire up to 10%” of the project.

Acwa has other big plans for Egypt: Acwa inked an agreement with the Egyptian government to develop a USD 4 bn green hydrogen project back in December. The first phase will have the capacity to produce 600k tons of green ammonia annually, while the second phase will expand the plant’s output by another 2 mn tons. The predicted investment value of the second phase was not disclosed, as well as the expected timeline for the entire project

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