ACWA Power secures significant investment from Silk Road Fund in UAE

Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,: ACWA Power, a leading developer, owner, and operator of power generation and water desalination plants, is delighted to announce that China’s Silk Road Fund will acquire a 24.01% equity interest in the 700MW DEWA Concentrated Solar Power (“CSP”) project in the United Arab Emirates.

In the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Excellency Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), and Yanzhi Wang, President of the Silk Road Fund exchanged the executed investment agreements in respect of DEWA Concentrated Solar Power Project (DEWA CSP Project) which will be jointly invested and developed by DEWA, Silk Road Fund, and ACWA Power.

The DEWA CSP project, which was awarded to an ACWA Power led consortium in 2017, is the 4th phase of the Mohamed bin Rashid Solar Park, the largest single-site concentrated solar power plant in the world. The project uses a state-of-the-art combination of a central tower and parabolic trough technologies to collect energy from the sun, store it in molten salt and produce steam as required to generate electricity during the day and throughout the night.

The project is projected to deliver electricity at a levelised tariff of US $7.30 cents per kilowatt-hour 24 hours a day; a cost level that competes with fossil fuel generated electricity without subsidy for reliable and dispatchable solar energy around the clock.. The plant will support the Dubai Clean Energy strategy 2050 to increase the share of clean energy in Dubai to 25% by 2030, and is expected to provide anannual saving of 2.4 Million tons of CO2.

Silk Road Fund is a market-oriented, international and professional medium to long-term development and investment institution. It invests in a broad spectrum of sectors under the framework of the “Belt and Road” initiative including infrastructure, energy resources, industrial capacity cooperation and financial cooperation.

Paddy Padmanathan, Chief Executive Officer of ACWA Power, said: “The introduction of a new investor into the DEWA CSP is absolutely in line with ACWA Power’s established strategy of sharing investments with value adding partners who will in turn bolster our projects. We could not have found a more capable partner than Silk Road Fund to complement DEWA and us on what is the largest single renewable energy project underway in the world today, “This co-investment also is in keeping with our investment strategy of efficiently deploying our own capital to retain a meaningful level of equity interest in each project that is sufficient to permit us to be the long-term investor with de facto control over the investment and for us to remain focused on reliably delivering electricity and desalinated water at low cost.” Rajit Nanda, Chief Investment Officer of ACWA Power, said: “I am delighted that we have reached an agreement to introduce an investor of the quality and international reputation of the Silk Road Fund.

“This investment is a testimony to the strong track record ACWA Power has already demonstrated as a reliable and responsible project developer and operator.”

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About ACWA Power

ACWA Power is a developer, investor and operator of a portfolio of power generation and desalinated water production plants currently with 48 assets in operation, construction or advance development, and employing over 3,500 people across 10 countries across the Middle East and North Africa, Southern Africa and Southeast Asia regions. ACWA Power’s portfolio, with an investment value in excess of USD 30 billion, can generate 27+ GW of power and produce over 3 million m3 /day of desalinated water to be mostly delivered on a bulk basis to state utilities and industrial majors on long term off-take contracts under Public-Private-Partnership, Concession and Utility Services Outsourcing models.

ACWA Power, registered and head-quartered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is owned by a number of Saudi conglomerates, including the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Sanabil Direct Investment Company, the Saudi Public Pensions Agency and the International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank ACWA Power).

ACWA Power pursues a mission to reliably deliver electricity and desalinated water at the lowest possible cost, thereby contributing to the social and economic development of the communities and countries it invests in and serves.

ACWA Power strives to achieve success by adhering to the values of Safety, People and Performance in operating its business.

About Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)

Concentrated solar power systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to focus a large area of sunlight onto a small area – unlike PV, which generates power through the photovoltaic effect. Electricity is generated when the concentrated light is converted to heat, which drives a steam turbine connected to an electrical power generator.

For more information, visit www.acwapower.com 

Media contact details:

Jon Barber

Director – Marketing & Communications

jbarber@acwapower.com 

+971(0)45091052

© Press Release 2018