New Delhi, Sept. 16 -- The country signed a deal with China's SANY Renewable Energy to develop a 2,000-megawatt wind project in the Gulf of Suez alongside Egypt's first wind turbine manufacturing plant. The project is expected to connect to the national grid within 23 months of final agreements, while the factory is intended to supply Egypt and potentially export equipment across Africa and the Middle East.

Even though Egypt's project is still in its early stages, energy experts say its emphasis on scale, local manufacturing and technology transfer could offer lessons for other African countries struggling to turn renewable-energy ambitions into functioning infrastructure.

That includes a project in Nigeria, where a 10-megawatt wind far...