AfrElec: ACWA Power in talks to build 250-MW wind farm in Gulf of Suez

Saudi water and electricity utilities operator ACWA Power is in advanced talks with the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE) to build a 250-MW wind farm in the Gulf of Suez, Al Borsa newspaper reported. The SFE would reportedly own a minority stake in the project.

ACWA Power has a significant presence in Egypt, including through its 200-MW Kom Ombo solar power plant, which in April 2021 obtained $114mn in backing from a consortium of international lenders led by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The EBRD, the OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Arab Bank are all involved.

The company has minority stakes in three plants in Benban and an upcoming project with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company to convert an electricity plant in Luxor to renewable energy.

The new Kom Ombo plant will be located less than 20 km from Africa’s biggest solar park, the 1.8-GW Benban complex. Once operational, the new utility-scale plant will serve 130,000 households. It will and reduce carbon emissions by approximately 280,000 tonnes per year (tpy).

ACWA Power has completed the operation of three solar power plants under the solar energy tariff program in Benban, Aswan Governorate, and is competing for a series of tenders to establish solar power plants.

The Kom Ombo plant will contribute to the Egyptian government’s target to generate 42% of the country’s electricity from renewable energy sources by 2035 while delivering one of the lowest generation tariffs on the continent.

ACWA has reportedly expressed interest in Egypt’s investment in desalination infrastructure.

However, ACWA said in September 2021 that it wanted to postpone the Kom Ombo project because of the high cost of transport and the prices of solar cells.

ACWA Power has agreed a price of $0.0248 per kWh for the project’s output, which is the lowest price contracted by EETC.

The contract for the construction and development of solar photovoltaic (PV) plants is part of the government’s plan to produce 20% of the total energy produced on the electricity grid from renewable sources by 2022.