Saudi Arabia almost quadrupled its annual wind additions in a single year, and on its own accounted for almost three in five new megawatts across Africa and the Middle East.
GWEC’s new Africa Middle East regional report, released April 28, says the Kingdom commissioned 1,512 MW of new onshore wind in 2025, a 287.7 percent leap year on year. That haul alone accounts for 57.8 percent of the region’s new wind capacity. Region wide, additions hit 2.6 GW in 2025, up 32 percent from 2024, while cumulative installed wind in Africa and the Middle East climbed to 15.2 GW. South Africa remains the largest single market at 4,037 MW, with Egypt second at 3,097 MW, Morocco fourth at 2,629 MW, and Saudi Arabia at a cumulative 2,324 MW from just 812 MW the year before.
What to look for
GWEC projects another 35 GW of new wind capacity across Africa and the Middle East between 2026 and 2030, with the Middle East taking the larger 53 percent share. If every project under construction, the 5.3 GW already awarded through Saudi NREP auctions, and the manufacturing pipeline in Saudi Arabia and Oman lands as planned, the Middle East alone could add over 18 GW by 2030. The pace setters I would track are NREP Round 7 awards, Yanbu and Al Ghat moving through commissioning, and the West Sohag tender in Egypt.
What it means for MENA
Egypt and Morocco still hold the larger installed bases. On these numbers, my read is that the center of gravity for new build has moved to the Gulf, and North African procurement teams now have a Saudi volume benchmark to answer.
I think the next 18 months of auctions and commissionings will decide which countries lead the region through 2030.
