Acwa Power forms clean energy alliances in China

Saudi renewable energy company Acwa Power has signed agreements with two Chinese companies to enhance their global clean energy collaboration.

The agreements were signed with state-owned China Southern Power Grid International Company and MingYang Smart Energy Group Limited during this week’s China (Guangdong)-Saudi Arabia Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference.

Acwa Power chairman Mohammad Abunayyan said: “Signing the two MoUs will strengthen our collaboration in green hydrogen and ammonia, global renewable energies and integrated smart energies.”

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Acwa Power’s Chinese collaborations include installing the largest wind turbine in central Asia with China Energy Engineering Corporation; awarding the EPC contract for the Rabigh 4 desalination project with a consortium of Power China, Sepco3 and Wetico; and an agreement to drive innovation in local renewable energy and storage development with Huawei Digital Power.

Acwa Power’s portfolio comprises 75 projects in operation, advanced development, or construction with an investment value of SAR297.75 billion ($79.4 billion) and the capacity to generate 50.4 GW of power and manage 7.6 million cubic metres of desalinated water per day.

In June Saudi Arabia and China signed 30 investment agreements worth over $10 billion (SAR37.5 billion).

One of the largest was a $5.6 billion agreement between the Saudi investment ministry and Human Horizons, a Chinese electric car maker, to collaborate on developing, manufacturing and selling vehicles.

China’s outward foreign direct investment has increased by 20 percent each year over the past decade.

The Arab world accounts for about $23 billion of the total, said investment minister Khalid Al Falih.