Silk Road Fund (SRF), a state-owned investment fund of the Chinese government, has reached an agreement with Saudi-based Acwa Power, a leading developer, owner, and operator of power generation and water desalination plants, to buy 49 per cent of the shares in its renewable energy platform – Acwa Power Renewable Energy Holding (Acwa Power RenewCo).

The SRF is a medium-to-long term development and investment fund established in Beijing under the framework of “Belt and Road Initiative”.

Acwa Power said together with the Chinese fund it had previously co-invested in two UAE-based projects, including the 2,400-MW Hassyan clean coal power plant and the 950-MW hybrid concentrated solar power (CSP) and photovoltaice (PV) fourth phase of MBR Solar Park to respectively power 1.3 million people and 320,000 residential homes.

Introducing SRF as a shareholder in Acwa Power’s renewable energy platform that owns a number of its existing renewable energy projects, the Saudi group said with this move new doors of collaboration and projects are opening up.