The 1.1GW Suez Wind Farm is an onshore wind project being developed in the Gulf of Suez region and the Gabal El-Zeit area in Egypt.
ACWA Power, which is leading the development of the renewable project, holds 70% stake.
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Meridiam, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Hassan Allam Utilities subsidiary HAU Energy share the remaining 30% interest in the project.
The project will entail an investment of $1.2bn.
Financial closure was achieved by the partners in January 2025, with operations slated to begin in the second quarter of 2027.
Once complete, the wind farm is projected to produce more than 4,300GWh of electricity annually eliminating carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 2.2 million metric tonnes per year.
The development of Suez Wind Farm is set to contribute to the Egyptian government’s goal of raising the share of renewable energy in its electricity generation mix to 42% by 2040.
Suez Wind Farm Location
The Suez Wind Farm in the Red Sea Governorate of Egypt will be divided between two sites due to the project’s substantial scale and land availability.
The two sites- west of Ras Ghareb and south of Ras Shukeir- are located about 60km apart, and are approximately 211km and 290km southeast of Cairo, near the Red Sea shoreline within the Ras Gharib District.
Each site will host 550MW of wind capacity.
Suez Wind Farm Details
Overall, the Suez Wind Farm will feature 138 turbines. Each of the wind turbine generators will have a capacity of approximately 8MW and a height of about 210m.
The project will also include an associated medium/high voltage step-up power substation. Supporting infrastructure will consist of cables connecting the turbines to an onsite substation, which will convert the turbine output to a grid-compatible voltage.
Additional onsite infrastructure will include an administrative building, a warehouse for equipment storage, and a road network to facilitate access across the site.
An Overhead Transmission Line (OHTL) will connect the onsite substation to the National Grid.
The construction and commissioning of the project are expected to take approximately 30 months.
Suez Wind Farm is expected to have an operational life of 25 years.
Financing
The Suez Wind Farm, with an investment value of $1.2bn, secured a $703.6m senior debt facility from a consortium of financial institutions.
This consortium includes 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).
The funding from EBRD features a B loan structure facilitated by Standard Chartered Bank and Arab Bank. The $275m syndicated loan for the project comprises a $200m A loan from the EBRD and $75m in B loans from Arab Bank and Standard Chartered.
AFDB has contributed a senior loan of up to $170m for the wind farm.
Contract and Offtake Agreement
In December 2024, POWERCHINA received the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Suez Gulf Wind Power Project. The contract was the company’s largest overseas onshore wind power project, and the second largest in Africa.
ACWA Power Egypt and Hassan Allam Utilities Consortium, represented by the project’s Suez Wind Energy Company, have signed a 25-year Build-Own-Operate (BOO) Power Purchase Agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC).
This agreement covers the development, construction, and operation of a 1.1GW wind power plant.
As agreed, EETC serves as the sole off-taker for the project.
