KSA’s Badeel, Acwa Power to build three solar projects in Saudi Arabia: Badeel and renewables giant Acwa Power signed power purchase agreements with the Saudi Power Procurement Company to develop and operate three solar energy projects with a 4.5 GW cumulative generation capacity at an investment ticket of SAR 12.2 bn (c. USD 3.25 bn), according to a statement. The three solar farms — all to be established in KSA — will be jointly owned by Acwa Power and Badeel.

The details: Badeel — owned by KSA’s sovereign wealth fund the Public Investment Fund (PIF) — and Acwa Power will jointly own the 2 GW Ar Rass 2 solar farm, the 1.12 GW Saad 2 PV plant, and the 1.42 Al Kahfah solar project, the statement notes. The projects — expected to achieve financial close by 3Q 2023 — will power some 750k households in the kingdom once operational in line with the country’s Energy Ministry’s target to have renewables comprise 50% of the country’s energy mix by the end of the decade. The projects are part of the kingdom’s National Renewable Energy Program (NREP), and PIF has been tasked with developing 70% of the program’s target capacity. A timeline on the projects’ completion and commercial launch was not disclosed.

PIF is bankrolling five other solar projects in the kingdom: The sovereign wealth fund is currently developing two other renewables plants — the Sudair solar project and the USD 1.75 bn 2 GW Shuaibah 2 solar energy project — bringing its pipeline clean energy portfolio to 8 GW.