ACWA Power, the world’s largest private water desalination company, leader in energy transition and first mover into green hydrogen, has signed several agreements that are in aggregate worth US$746 million on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative (FII7) in Riyadh.
In a US$500 million Heads of Terms agreement with EIG, a leading institutional investor in the global energy and infrastructure sectors, ACWA Power and EIG have agreed to cooperate in power generation, water desalination, green hydrogen, and green ammonia projects, with a specific focus on investing in projects in Gulf countries and Uzbekistan.
ACWA Power has also signed the funding agreements at an aggregate project financing amount of US$246 millionwith the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) and the OPEC Fund for International Development (The OPEC Fund) for the development of a 240MW wind power project in Azerbaijan. Both agreements are subject to the completion of the conditions precedent.
The project is the first foreign investment-based independent wind power project in the Republic of Azerbaijan, structured as a public-private partnership (PPP) at a total investment cost of US$347 million. The national electrical power company Azerenerji is the sole offtaker for the project, which, once completed, is expected to power nearly 300,000 households, save 220 million cubic metres of natural gas and reduce carbon emissions by more than 400,000 tonnes annually.
ACWA Power has previously worked with EBRD and The OPEC Fund on the financing of multiple projects across Central Asia, Middle East and Africa. During the 2022 edition of FII, ACWA Power and EBRD signed an MoU to finance sustainable infrastructure projects in Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Egypt.
ACWA Power’s commitment to lead and enable energy transition has seen it collaborate with Azerbaijan on several clean energy projects in recent years. Apart from this 240MW plant, ACWA Power has partnered with the Azerbaijan Ministry of Energy to develop 1.5 GW of offshore wind and 1 GW of onshore wind, as well as the development of a battery energy storage system (BESS).
ACWA Power is also working with the “State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic” (SOCAR) to explore collaboration and exploration in the fields of renewable energy and green hydrogen.
