The Water and Electricity Holding Company (Badeel), a wholly-owned company of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), and ACWA Power have announced the signing of power purchase agreements with the Saudi Power Procurement Company for the development and operation of three major new solar PV independent power producer (IPP) projects in Saudi Arabia.
The projects are part of the National Renewable Energy Programme which is led and supervised by the Ministry of Energy, with PIF mandated to develop 70% of NREP’s target capacity. The new projects will be jointly owned by Badeel and ACWA Power.
These projects intend to produce a combined capacity of 4.55 GWac of renewable energy. The Ar Rass 2, Saad 2 and Al Kahfah projects have a capacity of approximately 2000 MWac, 1125 MWac and 1425 MWac respectively, with a combined value of SAR 12.2 bn (US$3.25 bn). Financial close for these projects is expected for the third quarter of 2023.
The Ministry of Energy aims to achieve the goals of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 in reaching the optimal power generation energy mix by displacing liquid fuels through harnessing renewable energy sources. This will involve increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix to around 50 % by 2030 with the remainder being supplied through high efficiency gas-fuelled power plants.
PIF is currently developing a total of five projects, with a cumulative capacity of 8 GW and over US$6 bn of investment from PIF and its partners. PIF’s renewable projects - Sudair, Shuaibah 2, Ar Rass 2, Al Kahfah, Saad 2 - are aiming to enable and support the local private sector through requirements for significant local content contribution and the procurement of equipment, supplies, and services through local supply chains.
Utilising the most advanced PV technology, the innovative designs of the plants will aim to ensure the highest efficiency, reliability, and performance versus any comparable plant in the world.
ACWA Power's portfolio of solar projects in Saudi Arabia now stands at 11, with over 12 GW of combined PV capacity, following the addition of the three new projects. This brings ACWA Power's total renewable capacity portfolio to 23.4 GW.
Image courtesy of ACWA Power
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