Dubai-based ACWA Power, which is partly owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign Public Investment Fund, recently announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking to finance ACWA projects worth $2 billion over two years, according to media reports. Prior to signing this MoU, Natixis has previously underwritten several other ACWA deals, including the Sakaka photovoltaic project.
In October this year, ACWA Power was among one of the bidders for the 1,200 MW Saudi renewable energy projects, consisting of four independent generation projects (IPP), according to an announcement made by the Ministry of Energy. French Total Solar and ACWA Power both have bid for the Wadi Al-Dawasir project with a capacity of 120 MW. Additionally, ACWA Power has also bid for the Laila project with a capacity of 80 MW, under Category A alongside AlFanar Energy Company.
For the Al Rass project, which has a capacity of 700 MW, both ACWA Power and China’s Jinko Solar have placed their bids. While Jinko Solar and the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company have placed their bids for the 300 MW Saad project, under Category B.
Along with these bids, a request for proposal was issued for the two category B projects on April 8, 2020, and the two categories A projects on April 22, 2020. Additionally, three separate bids were submitted for each of the four projects during the second quarter of 2021. All these four projects have to compulsorily comply with local content requirements based on the mechanisms identified by the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority.