Wind farms attract investor interest: Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, the UAE’s Alcazar Energy and our friends at local renewables firm Infinity are reportedly among seven companies interested in acquiring Egypt’s two largest wind farms,Asharq Business reports, citing two anonymous sources it says are close to the matter. The government-owned 580-MW Gabal El Zeit and 545-MW Zafarana wind farms were both included in the list of 32 companies and assets earmarked for privatization in February and have attracted significant interest among investors, according to the news outlet, which says the sales are expected to be completed before the end of 2023.

What we don’t know: Who the other four bidders might be or the potential valuation of the two plants. A representative at Infinity declined to comment when Enterprise reached out yesterday.

The Madbouly cabinet has formed a committee to negotiate with potential investors and review offers for Gabal El-Zeit, noting that it’s already received some offers for the wind farm, and is reviewing the expected timeline for the Zafarana wind farm, it said earlier this week.

An attractive buy? Long-term feasibility studies are reportedly already in place, one source told Asharq, saying that a strategic investor in either wind farm “will only replace the turbines.”

ACWA Power, Alcazar, and Infinity are household names in our green energy sector, with all three companies signing multiple MoUs and agreements in the sector in the past year, including for large-scale wind farms:

  • ACWA signed a MoU in November last year with the NREA and Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company to build a 10-GW wind farm in Egypt and signed a 25-year power purchase agreement alongside Hassan Allam last June to develop a 1.1-GW wind farm in the Gulf of Suez.
  • Infinity Power – a joint venture between Infinity and long-time partner Masdar – is set to build a 10-GW onshore wind farm in Egypt, alongside Hassan Allam Utilities and Masdar.
  • Alcazar signed an early agreement to build green fuel facilities in the Ain Sokhna Industrial Zone in August last year. The company also recently signed a partnership agreement with Egypt-based Madkour Group to work together on renewable energy projects in Egypt and Africa.

REMEMBER- We should soon see more movement on the state’s rebooted privatization program. Offers could start rolling in this month for military-owned bottled drinks firm Safi and fuel retailer Wataniya, the cabinet said earlier this week, promising details “soon” on other transactions in the works. The government is hoping to raise USD 2 bn via asset sales by the end of June.

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