Saudi Arabia and India partner on renewables and green steel: Several KSA-based renewables companies including Desert Technologies and Tadawul-listed Al Jomaih Energy and Water company have signed MoUs with Indian companies on the sidelines of the India-Saudi Investment Forum to invest in the region’s renewables sector, The National reports.

A sizable agreement for MENA: Dammam-based electric utility company Al Jomaih Energy and Water company signed an EPC agreement with Avaada Energy — the renewable energy arm of India’s Avaada Group — to jointly develop clean energy projects in the Middle East, including solar and wind energy farms that would supplemented with battery energy storage facilities. The expected launch date for the planned projects, targeted generation capacity of the renewables plants, and an estimated investment ticket for the MENA-based renewables farms were not disclosed. The Indian company — which earlier in April secured USD 1 bn in green financing from Brookfield Renewable Partners to expand its operations — has a 4 GW renewable energy portfolio across India, is eyeing an 11 GW clean energy production volume by 2026 with plans to up capacity further to 30 GW by 2030. Al Jomaih is developing a 120 MW solar plant in India’s Gujarat.

And another for green steel: Saudi solar PV and smart infrastructure developer Desert Technologies signed an agreement with Indian multinational conglomerate Essar Group to supply renewable energy solutions for the latter’s planned USD 4.5 bn flat steel complex in Ras Al Khair as well as future clean energy-powered projects it will undertake in the country, according to a statement. Essar submitted its project proposal to the Saudi Industry Development Fund for the green steel plant back in March, with a target to produce 4 mn tons a year of casting and hot-strip steel, as well as 1 mn tons of cold-roll coil capacity and tin plates a year.

ALSO- Desert Technologies inked an MoU with Indian counterpart Goldi Solar to facilitate knowledge transfer and jointly collaborate on advancing clean energy technologies, according to The National. Back in June, the Indian developer said it will earmark INR 50 bn (USD 603 mn) to expand its solar cell module manufacturing capacity to 6 GW from its current 2.5 GW volume.

IN OTHER NEWS- Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth funds plants to set up shop in Gujarat: Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund the Public Investment Fund (PIF) plans to establish an office in the country’s tax-neutral Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT), Reuters quotes KSA’s Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih as saying yesterday following an invitation by Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal. The announcement came on the sidelines of a high-level bilateral tour, which saw KSA Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman commit during talks with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set up a USD 100 bn task force to facilitate Saudi investments into the country.