ACWA Power, a leading Saudi developer, investor, and operator of power generation, water desalination and green hydrogen plants announced its financial results for the first three months of 2022 on Wednesday.
In the firm’s statement, ACWA Power highlighted that it has a total of 65 projects worth SR253.4 billion ($67.4 billion) in the operation, construction or advanced development in 12 countries.
The various projects, which are mostly focused at providing sustainable solutions, have a capacity to generate 43.4 GW of electricity and produce 6.4 million m3 per day of desalinated water, said its Chairman Mohammad Abunayyan.
Key operational highlights for the first quarter of 2022 include:
- NEOM green hydrogen project, the world’s largest at-scale green hydrogen and ammonia project moved into construction. A Limited Notice to Proceed (LNTP) for c. SAR 3.4 billion was signed in relation to the EPC contract by ACWA Power and our consortium of partners.
- The Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was signed for 700MW c. SAR 1.7 billion Ar Rass Solar PV IPP in Saudi Arabia, with ACWA Power being the lowest bidder of the project as part of Round Three of the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) of the Ministry of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Financing of c. SAR 4.9 billion concluded for the development, construction, operations and maintenance of the Red Sea multi-utilities project. - Concluded the sale of entire shareholding in Shuqaiq Water and Electricity Company, an oil-fired asset, along with its related holding companies and partial shareholding in the operations and maintenance service providing entity. The sale will remove 1.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year from ACWA Power’s portfolio.
- Announced the conversion of operation of 2,400 MW Hassyan IPP in Dubai, UAE from clean coal to natural gas. With operation on natural gas instead of coal, the project will avoid approximately 30 million tons of CO2 emissions by 2030. This change means that ACWA Power has eliminated all coal fired assets from its portfolio.
“While no projects achieved financial close during this period, Rabigh Arabian Water and Electricity Company (Rawec), an independent water, steam and power producer and a subsidiary of Acwa Power supplying these utilities on a captive basis to Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Company (Petro Rabigh), a facility of Saudi Aramco, concluded the phase two of its debt refinancing,” remarked Abunayyan.
“As 2022 unfolds, we look forward to strengthening our portfolio in existing and potential markets and assist governments as they work towards diversifying their energy mix with sustainable options in power generation, water desalination and green hydrogen,” he added.
CEO and Vice Chairman Paddy Padmanathan, said: “With new contributions from several projects achieving their initial or project commercial operation dates since the first quarter of 2021, we are pleased to report a solid start to 2022.”
“As we work diligently to evolve our portfolio towards sustainable solutions, whether it is through expansion of our renewable portfolio, conversion to cleaner forms of energy source in our plants, investing in the largest green hydrogen and ammonia project in the world for cleaner fuel or altogether divesting fossil fuel-fired plants, our focus on driving sustainable change remains undeterred,” noted Padmanathan.
Kashif Rana, Chief Financial Officer and Acting Chief Portfolio Management Officer, said: “Looking ahead to 2022, Acwa Power has access to diverse funding options that include our existing level of strong liquidity to finance our visible pipeline of power, water and green hydrogen projects.”
“While higher costs and supply chain challenges persist and create pressure over our EPC partners, we do recognize the need for a sustainable and more permanent solution to mitigate these stresses,” added Rana.