Friday 03 Jan
Acwa Power, a leading Saudi energy developer, has secured financing of 2.64 billion Saudi riyals (approximately $702 million) for a 1,100-megawatt wind power project in Egypt. This was announced in a disclosure on the Saudi Tadawul stock exchange.
Acwa Power, which holds a 70% stake in the project company, said a group of development financial institutions, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the African Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development, the British International Finance Corporation, and the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), provided the senior debt financing.
The total investment cost of the
project is 4.13 billion riyals, according to today's disclosure. Earlier this
year, a consortium comprising Acwa Power and Hassan Allam Construction secured
the contract to develop the wind power plant located near Ras Ghareb in Egypt's
Gulf of Suez and Gebel El Zeit area.
A consortium led by Saudi
Arabia's Acwa Power, and including Egypt's Hassan Allam Construction, was
awarded the bid for a 1.1-gigawatt wind energy project in the Gulf of Suez and
Gebel El Zeit regions.
The project is the largest wind
energy production project in the Middle East and one of the largest onshore
wind energy projects globally, as stated by the Egyptian Minister of
Electricity and Renewable Energy during the signing of the usufruct agreement
between the Egyptian authorities and the winning consortium.
Upon completion, the project will
significantly contribute to environmental sustainability by reducing 2.4
million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. It will also result in
substantial fuel savings of approximately 840,000 tons per year and create an
estimated 6,000 direct and indirect job opportunities. Furthermore, the project
will provide electricity to approximately one million housing units, according
to a statement released by the Egyptian government when the contract was
awarded.
The project will utilize cutting-edge wind turbine technology, featuring turbines with a height of approximately 220 meters, making them the tallest in the Gulf of Suez region, as previously stated by Thomas Brostrom, CEO of Investment at Acwa Power.
