ACWA Power has reached financial close on the 1.5GW Sudair Solar photovoltaic (PV) plant, located at Sudair Industrial City in Saudi Arabia.
The financing sponsor group includes Mizuho Bank, Riyad Bank, Korea Development Bank, Arab Petroleum Investments (APICORP), Al Rajhi Banking & Investment, and Standard Chartered Bank.
Equity bridge facilities were offered by the Bank Al Bilad, Saudi British Bank and SMBC International.
Sudair Solar is the first project under Public Investment Fund (PIF)’s renewable energy programme, which supports the country’s ongoing energy transition and diversification.
Also, the programme aims to deliver 70% of the renewable energy in Saudi Arabia under the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP).
A 25-year power purchase agreement has been signed with the Saudi Power Procurement Company for the Sudair solar power plant.
ACWA Power chairman Mohammad Abunayyan said: “I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and pride following the signing of agreements for the first project under the PIF Renewable Energy Program.
“Today’s milestone marks progress in achieving the goals of Vision 2030 and the requirements of the National Renewable Energy Programme.”
The project was unveiled at the inauguration of Sakaka PV project in April 2021.
A special team at the Saudi’s Ministry of Energy selected the Sudair project site and carried out the engineering requirements and preliminary studies of the project.
The Sudair Solar project involves an investment of SAR3.4bn ($906m), and is expected to become a largest single-contracted solar PV plant in the Saudi Arabia.
The project will feature bi-facial modules with tracking technology to deliver high performance and power 185,000 homes. It is expected to offset nearly 2.9 million tonnes of emissions per year.
In April this year, ACWA Power has officially inaugurated the 300MW Sakaka PV IPP plant solar project in Saudi Arabia.
Constructed with a total investment of SAR1.2bn ($320m), the Sakaka PV power plant is the Kingdom’s first utility scale renewable energy project.
