Alcazar Energy Partners has signed a $420 million deal to take over the 580MW Gabal El Zeit wind farm on Egypt’s Red Sea coast, the first strategic renewable power asset sold under the country’s IMF-backed privatisation push. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly attended the signing in Cairo on June 8, where Alcazar co-founder and managing partner Daniel Calderon put his name to investment, operation, and power purchase agreements alongside Ehab Ismail, CEO of the New and Renewable Energy Authority, and Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company Chairwoman Mona Rizk.
The transaction hands operational control of three running wind farms to the Dubai-based fund manager under a 25-year power purchase agreement, and opens the first phase of Egypt’s plan to monetise state-owned power assets. Together with Alcazar’s 500 MW NIAT Wind project, the company says the two investments will mobilise close to USD 1.0 billion of capital for Egypt’s clean energy sector over the coming months.
Alcazar Takes the 580MW Gabal El Zeit Wind Farm for $420M
Egypt signed investment, operation, and power purchase agreements worth $420 million with Alcazar Energy for the 580MW Gabal El Zeit wind farm, the government said on Monday, June 8. The agreements, signed in the presence of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, grant Alcazar the rights to invest in, operate, and manage the Red Sea facility through a newly established project company governed by Egyptian law.
The project comprises three operational wind farms in the Red Sea Governorate, all equipped with Siemens Gamesa turbines. Alcazar will assume operational responsibility for the assets and sell electricity to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company under a 25-year power purchase agreement, the company added. The $420 million will be injected from external financing sources, per the government statement.
The wind farm generates up to 2.4TWh of electricity a year, Alcazar said. The wind farms could avoid more than 1.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year and produce enough electricity to power more than 300,000 households. The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company will purchase all electricity generated by the wind farm under the agreement.
The Three Plants and the Public Money Behind Them
The Gabal El Zeit complex sits along the Red Sea coast south of Ras Ghareb city, in the Red Sea Governorate, and was inaugurated in July 2018 by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, per a video report on Gabal El Zeit’s 2018 inauguration by Sisi. The three operating wind farms were built with backing from three different bilateral donors, a structure that is now reshaping the asset’s path back to the private sector, traced in detail in a January 2026 report on the five-bidder sale.
The three plants average 8 to 10 years of operation, per Alcazar’s statement. The first 240 MW plant was developed in cooperation with Germany’s KfW development bank and the European Commission, the second 220 MW plant was supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the third 120 MW plant was financed by the Spanish government. Together the three plants make up the full 580 MW complex Alcazar is now taking over.
| Plant | Capacity | Funded by |
|---|---|---|
| Plant 1 | 240 MW | KfW and the European Commission |
| Plant 2 | 220 MW | Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) |
| Plant 3 | 120 MW | Spanish government |
What the 25-Year Contract Requires Alcazar to Do
Under the terms of the deal, the foreign partner will handle technical management, maintenance, and upgrade works to lift production while keeping the wind farm at or above its current 580 MW installed capacity throughout the 25-year contract. The Sovereign Fund of Egypt managed the transaction from its inception, creating a competitive framework that attracted a global renewable energy company while balancing the rights of the state and the investor.
Alcazar’s main obligations under the contract are:
- Investing $420 million in the wind farm through a project company established under Egyptian law
- Taking operational responsibility for all three plants
- Maintaining a minimum installed capacity of 580 MW throughout the 25-year term
- Running renovation and efficiency improvement works to boost productivity
- Selling electricity to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company under a 25-year power purchase agreement
Electricity and Renewable Energy Minister Mahmoud Esmat said the state is working to create a favourable climate to attract foreign and domestic investment in solar and wind. Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Mohamed Farid said the deal demonstrates the government’s seriousness in expanding the ownership base of state-owned enterprises and improving the governance and operational indicators of government assets.
Why Egypt Sold Its Flagship Wind Farm Now
The transaction falls under Egypt’s State Ownership Policy Document, which targets maximising returns from state-owned assets. The Egyptian cabinet called it the first strategic renewable power asset offered under the privatisation framework, and a benchmark for future utility-scale public-private partnerships in the country’s power sector.
Alcazar submitted the highest financial bid among five regional and international bidders that conducted due diligence on the asset, per a January 2026 report citing government sources. The competing bidders included ACWA Power, Actis, a Malaysian company, and a European consortium, with Alcazar ranked first. The same report valued the deal at up to $350 million at the time; the final signed agreements totalled $420 million.
Investment Minister Farid said the deal aligns with government efforts to empower the private sector and enhance investor confidence. Electricity Minister Esmat said the private sector is taking a leading role in implementing renewable energy and battery storage projects, with the state working to attract both foreign and domestic investment into the power sector.
Egypt raised its clean energy target to 45% of the electricity mix by 2028, two years ahead of its previous 2030 plan, after President Al-Sisi reviewed a 7,000-MW acceleration plan reviewed by President al-Sisi to reach 45% by 2028. The 580 MW of installed capacity at Gabal El Zeit will remain on the national grid under the 25-year off-take with EETC, while the technical management, maintenance, and upgrade works shift to Alcazar under the contract terms.
Alcazar’s Egypt Pipeline Is Now Worth Close to $1B
Calderon framed the two projects together as a single capital push into Egypt, with the Gabal El Zeit deal closed and the NIAT groundbreaking planned for mid-2026. The 500 MW NIAT Wind project sits along the Suez Canal, carries a $600 million construction budget, and is scheduled for completion in 23 months for phase one, per a mid-2026 groundbreaking timeline for the NIAT project.
Alcazar entered a binding share sale and purchase agreement for NIAT with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, which had signed a build, finance, and operate agreement for the project with the Egyptian government in March 2025. The company’s website said Alcazar expects to break ground on NIAT in mid-2026, with 100 units of 5MW turbines supplied by the German company, and the majority of the $0.03 per kWh off-take price payable offshore in US dollars.
Alcazar Energy Partners is a Dubai-based independent sustainable infrastructure fund manager focused on utility-scale renewable energy projects in emerging markets. The firm’s second fund, Alcazar Energy Partners II, reached a final close of $490 million in May 2024 with capital from investors in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, per the company’s Alcazar Energy’s announcements and fund milestones.
In November 2024, Alcazar also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company and the New and Renewable Energy Authority to develop a separate 2 GW onshore wind project in Egypt. The firm is now running two parallel tracks in the country: the operating Gabal El Zeit complex, and the 500 MW NIAT project scheduled to break ground in mid-2026.
Alcazar Energy is very pleased to contribute, with this project, to Egypt’s privatization efforts supported by the IMF. Together with our 500 MW NIAT Wind project, this investment will also help mobilize close to USD1.0 billion of capital for Egypt’s clean energy sector over the coming months, reinforcing the country’s position as a leading destination for renewable energy investment in the region.
Daniel Calderon, co-founder and managing partner of Alcazar Energy Partners, said in the company’s statement on the Gabal El Zeit deal.
How the Sale Fits the Path to 45% Renewables by 2028
The Gabal El Zeit complex was a flagship of Egypt’s earlier wind build-out when it was opened by President al-Sisi in 2018. Selling it now hands the operational workload to a private operator that has committed to renovating and upgrading the turbines, while keeping the renewable output flowing to the national grid under a long-dated off-take contract. The 25-year PPA locks the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company in as the off-taker, and the project company is set up under Egyptian law to channel external financing into the deal.
Egypt’s 7,000-MW plan reviewed by President al-Sisi targets 45% renewable electricity by 2028, and the November 2024 Alcazar MoU for 2 GW of additional onshore wind forms part of the pipeline that will need to break ground over the next two years. Calderon said the next test for Alcazar’s Egypt platform will be whether the NIAT project lands on its mid-2026 groundbreaking schedule, while related work on the 2 GW MoU continues. Egypt’s broader commercial-scale renewables pipeline is also moving, with the 144 MW of Onasolar solar projects in Egypt among the earlier projects online.
- 580 MW: installed capacity across three Red Sea wind farms
- $420 million: external investment in the project company under Egyptian law
- 25 years: term of the power purchase agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company
- Up to 2.4TWh: annual electricity generation from the three-plant complex
- 1.1 million tonnes: CO2 emissions the wind farms could avoid each year
