Saudi Arabia-based power generation company Acwa Power and its consortium partners have reached financial closure on the 2.63GW Al-Shuaibah solar projects in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Al Shuaibah 1 and Al Shuaibah 2 solar projects will have capacities of 600MW and 2.03GW respectively. The two projects will entail an investment of $2.2bn (SR8.3bn).
Expected to be operational by 2025, they will generate enough clean energy to power 450,000 homes in the region annually.
ACWA Power's partners in the consortium include Badeel, owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and Saudi Aramco.
The projects are owned by Badeel (34.99%), ACWA Power (35.01%) and Saudi Aramco (30%), with the Saudi Power Procurement Company as their off-taker.
Aramco Downstream president Mohammed Al Qahtani noted: “While oil and gas will play a major role to meet the energy demand of today and tomorrow, renewables will increasingly play a part in the energy transition to address the climate change challenges. The projects mark a significant milestone to support Aramco in achieving its decarbonisation targets.”
ACWA Power received senior debt financing of $1.63bn, which includes a $450m loan from the National Development Fund on behalf of the National Infrastructure Fund.
$1.18bn was secured from a consortium of local, regional and international banks including Bank Saudi Fransi, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Mizuho Bank, Riyadh Bank, the Saudi National Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and The Saudi Investment Bank.
ACWA Power CEO Marco Arcelli stated: “Securing financing for this groundbreaking project marks a significant step towards achieving Saudi Arabia’s clean energy goals, in alignment with the National Renewable Energy Programme, which aims to generate 50% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030. "
