Acwa Power-led consortium kicks off operations on Bangladesh’s largest solar farm: The Bangladeshi government approved a plan by an Acwa Power-led consortium to build a USD 430 mn, 300 MW solar energy project in Bangladesh’s southern province Bagerhat, Asharq Business reports, citing a government statement. A timeline for the project has not been disclosed.

The details: Acwa Power will have a 45% stake in the solar power plant, while the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will hold a 25% share in exchange for facilitating the land allocation agreement for the project and offtake the clean energy under a 20-year agreement, the news outlet notes. Bangladeshi firms Viyellatex Spinning and Comfit Composite Knit will snap up the remaining stakes in the project, the news outlet added, without specifying the exact shares each company will hold.

Part of larger KSA plans for Bangladesh: Acwa signed an agreement with BPDB to carry out feasibility studies on a larger USD 1 bn, 1 GW solar plant — expected to come online in 2024 — last November. Acwa Power will bring the technical know-how and line up funding for the project, while BPDB will provide administrative support alongside the state-owned Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority. Later in March, the Saudi government and Bangladesh also established a joint business council to support and accelerate cooperation in power generation — including the development of a solar power plant — and other sectors like agriculture and logistics. Bangladesh will need to allocate USD 1.71 bn annually to meet its target of having renewables account for 40% of its electricity mix by 2040.

Acwa Power is aggressively expanding elsewhere in Asia: The company has been investing heavily in a southeast Asian expansion with projects in Indonesia and Thailand, signing power purchase and investment agreements with the National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan for a 1.5 GW, USD 2.4 bn wind energy farm back in 2019. Acwa is also developing a 240 MW wind farm in Azerbaijan with a reported investment of USD 300 mn. In March, Acwa signed an agreement with Kazakhstan’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (Samruk-Kazyna) and the Kazakh Energy Ministry to build and manage a 1 GW wind farm and a battery energy storage facility in the country. That same month, the company signed a USD 2.5 bn power purchase and investment agreement with Uzbekistan's Energy Ministry to develop two solar stations and three storage facilities.

IN OTHER ACWA NEWS- A financial close for Egypt’s Kom Ombo solar plant: Acwa Power has achieved a financial close for its 200 MW Kom Ombo solar project in Egypt’s Aswan, according to a disclosure to Tadawul. The Saudi company sealed a USD 123 mn financing package from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), OPEC Fund for International Development, the African Development Bank, the Green Climate Fund, the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, and the Arab Bank. The financing — which has a set duration of up to 20 years — aims to finance the development and construction of the plant.

About the project: The Kom Ombo plant will be located next to Africa’s biggest solar park, the 1.4 GW Benban complex, in which Acwa is also taking part. It is expected to be commercially operational in January 2024.