Egypt is building Africa’s first gigawatt-scale wind project, while South African corporate buyers are securing wind contracts through private power purchase agreements (PPAs) at a faster rate than the state has achieved over the past 15 years.

GWEC’s recently published Status of wind in Africa report documents 351 wind projects across the continent, including 92 operating installations and 259 projects in development with planned capacity totalling 186GW. Juliana Kainga, Director for Africa Wind Power at GWEC, notes that Africa’s wind sector is shifting from potential to execution. But she adds that installed capacity is concentrated where bankable offtake frameworks, predictable procurement and grid infrastructure exist, rather than only where wind speeds are highest.

‘Three countries hold nearly nine in every 10 megawatts of African wind. The continent’s greatest wind resources in Algeria, Libya, Sudan and the Sahel (the zone south of the Sahara and north of grassland savanna) remain almost entirely untouched,’ Kainga said.  

She continued: ‘Less than 0.02% of Africa’s technical wind potential has been built. The constraint is not the wind. It never has been. The constraint is the set of institutions, contracts, grids and capital flows that turn wind into electricity and electricity into industry, jobs and household power.’

The report shows that North Africa leads with 5.5GW of installed capacity, followed by Southern Africa with 4.25GW, Eastern Africa with 1.05GW and Western Africa with 320MW. Central Africa has no installed wind capacity.  

Siemens Gamesa holds the largest market share among original equipment manufacturers at 48%, followed by Vestas at 17%, Nordex at 14%, Goldwind at 5%, and Envision Energy at 5%. Turbine unit ratings have increased from an average of 0.85MW in 2007 to over 5MW in 2025, with some machines reaching 8MW at the Gulf of Suez project.

Corporate captive PPAs are now a primary driver of the market, according to the report. South Africa’s regulatory changes lifting generation licensing thresholds have enabled over 3.3GW of corporate wind capacity in less than 30 months. Mines, cement plants, smelters and fertiliser producers are buying clean power in volumes that exceed what national utilities have procured. For example, mining-anchored PPAs in Zambia (First Quantum, 430MW hybrid with 200MW wind), South Africa (Sibanye-Stillwater, 407MW) and Mauritania (SNIM/Nour) reach this at commercial scale.

In developed markets, domestic capital is replacing development finance institutions. In South Africa, commercial banks and pension funds are reported to provide local-currency debt and equity. Morocco finances projects through the Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion (a state-owned investment fund), local banks and pension funds, while development finance institutions and export credit agencies continue to support frontier markets and large-scale projects, including Egypt’s 1.1GW Gulf of Suez installation.

The Koruson 2 project in South Africa is another example of the industrial growth in the region. It is a 520MW multi-technology cluster developed by Envusa Energy, EDF Power Solutions, Pele Green Energy and a community trust. Spanning the Northern and Eastern Cape provinces, the cluster includes the 140MW Umsobomvu wind farm, the 140MW Hartebeesthoek wind farm and the 240MW Mooi Plaats solar photovoltaic plant. Power from these facilities is delivered through the Koruson 400kV main transmission substation to major mining operations such as Anglo American Platinum, De Beers and Kumba Iron Ore. The initiative provides stable renewable power under long-term agreements and reduces CO₂ emissions by approximately 2.2mn t/y.

Scatec is another example – a joint development agreement with EDF Power Solutions to begin construction of the 900MW Shadwan onshore wind project in Egypt’s Ras Shukeir area on the Red Sea coast. The project uses equity bridge loan agreements with the Arab Energy Fund.  

Repowering initiatives are also underway as early wind farms reach the end of their operational lifecycles. The GWEC report explains that Morocco is upgrading the Koudia Al Baida wind farm from 50MW to 100MW by replacing 84 vintage turbines with 20 modern units (as well as recycling foundation and tower materials). Egypt plans to repower its 545MW Zafarana complex with a 3.2GW hybrid wind and solar facility to meet continuous industrial demand.

GWEC projects that total installed wind capacity across Africa will reach 30–50GW by 2035, concentrated primarily in South Africa, Egypt and Morocco. Adding that growth depends on resolving transmission bottlenecks, maintaining regulatory stability and expanding local financing structures.