KSA renewables giant Acwa Power has signed agreements worth USD 746 mn at the Future Investment Initiative — also known as Davos in the Desert, according to a statement released on Thursday. The agreements will help the company’s expansion into Central Asia and help finance GCC projects.

A big financing injection from EIG: Acwa Power signed a USD 500 mn Heads of Term agreement with American investment firm EIG Partners to support its expansion plans in Uzbekistan as well as fund projects in the GCC region, the statement notes. The financing would be channeled toward green hydrogen, desalination, and power generation projects in both markets.

Acwa has big plans for Uzbekistan: The renewables giant signed three power purchase agreements totaling USD 2.5 bn in March with the National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan and the country’s Investment, Industry, and Trade Ministry for 1.4 GW worth of solar projects and three battery energy storage (BESS) units totalling a capacity of 1.5 GWh. Earlier in January, Acwa signed an agreement to build a green hydrogen plant and a green ammonia pilot project in the country

Acwa Power secures financing for Azerbaijan wind project: Acwa Power secured USD 246 mn in financing for its 240 MW wind project from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the OPEC Fund for International Development, according to a statement on the Saudi Exchange Tadawul. OPEC will be providing USD 50 mn for the financing of the project. The project is estimated to cost a total of USD 347 mn, but no further details on financing or a timeline for operations has been disclosed. The Acwa Power Azerbaijan Renewable Energy — the special-purpose vehicle (SPV) wholly owned by Acwa Power that will carry out the project — is scheduled to sign the financial closure agreements.

More about the project: The project is expected to generate 1 mn MWh of electricity to offset 400k tons of CO2 emissions annually, according to Power Technology. The power generated from the project will be sold to AzerEnerji under a power purchase agreement. Envision Energy is the turbine supplier for the wind power project, while the First National Operation & Maintenance Company (Nomac) will manage the operations of the farm.

It's been in the works for some years: The project is being implemented under a 2019 presidential decree aimed at executing pilot projects using renewable energy sources, according to Acwa Power. The investment, power purchase, and transmission connection agreements were signed at the end of 2020 and cover a 20 year period.

Acwa Power is growing its green investments in the country: Acwa Power and the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan inked the roadmap agreement to develop a 200 MW onshore wind farm with battery storage facilities earlier this month. Last February, the company signed a cooperation agreement with Azerbaijan that will see the company set up a 1.5 GW offshore wind energy project as part of a plan to build wind farms with a combined capacity of 2.5 GW and develop the country’s first battery storage systems. Earlier in 2022, Acwa broke ground on another 240 MW in Azerbaijan with a reported investment ticket of USD 300 mn.