ANKARA: Saudi Arabia will invest $2 billion to build two solar ‍farms ‍with total capacity of 2,000 MW in ​Turkey, the Turkish energy minister said on Tuesday.

During ⁠Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Riyadh, Turkey's Energy Minister ⁠Alparslan Bayraktar ‌and his Saudi counterpart Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman signed an agreement on renewable energy ⁠power plant projects, Bayraktar said in a post on X.

Under the agreement, Saudi companies will construct a solar power plant in the ⁠eastern province of Sivas ​and another in central province of Karaman with a total capacity ‍of 2,000 MW in the first phase, Bayraktar said, ​adding that the total capacity of solar and wind power plants that the Saudi Arabian companies will construct will reach 5,000 MW.

"We view these investments as one of the most important examples of direct foreign investment in our energy sector, and they will be financed entirely through external financing. Credit will ⁠also be provided by international ‌financial institutions," Bayraktar said.

The $2 billion solar power plants will meet the electricity needs of 2.1 ‌million households ⁠in Turkey, Bayraktar also said. (Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever ⁠and Can Sezer, Editing by Nick Zieminski)