Acwa Power signs up for 1GW Egyptian wind farm

• Agreements worth $700m
• Wind farm in Gulf of Suez
• Backers include EBRD, ADB

The Saudi energy company Acwa Power has signed agreements worth more than $700 million to fund the development, construction, operation and maintenance of a wind power plant in Egypt.

Acwa Power said it signed the 20-year senior debt agreement, worth SAR2.63 billion ($703 million), with a syndicate of development financial institutions.

The 1.1GW wind power plant in the Suez governate, the largest of its kind in Africa, is being developed at a cost of SAR4.13 billion.

Acwa Power has a 70 percent stake in the company developing the wind plant, it said in a statement on the Saudi stock exchange, where its shares are traded.

• Egypt and UAE company to develop $600m wind power plant

• Egypt to receive half of Acwa Power’s $30bn Africa investment

• Saudi firm agrees deal for 10GW wind farm in Egypt

The consortium includes the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the African Development Bank, British International Investment, Deutsche Investitions, the Opec Fund for International Development and Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation.

Last week Egypt announced that it had secured $275 million in funding for the construction and operation of the wind farm, which is located in the Gulf of Suez. It is expected to deliver renewable energy at a cost below conventional power generation.

The power plant is one of the first projects developed under Egypt’s Nexus of Water, Food & Energy programme, which has a renewable energy target of 10GW.