Acwa Power, the world's largest private water desalination company, has announced that along with its key partners – Badeel, a Saudi PIF company, and Saudi Aramco Power Company (Sapco) – it has achieved a financial close to develop seven giga-scale projects in Saudi Arabia.

With a total investment value of $8.2 billion, these projects – comprising five solar and two wind energy projects – are expected to have a combined capacity of 15 GW of renewable power.

These are Bisha (3 GW solar PV, located in Asir Province), Humaij (3 GW solar PV, located in Madinah), Khulis (2 GW solar PV, located in Makkah), Afif1 and Afifi2 (both 2 GW solar PV projects located in Riyadh).

The wind projects are the 2 GW Starah and the 1 GW Shaqra facilities, both in Riyadh Province.

As part of the kingdom’s National Renewable Energy Program (NREP), all the seven renewable energy plants will be jointly owned by Acwa Power, Badeel and Sapco, with the Saudi Power Procurement Company as the procurer and off-taker for the projects.

These plants are expected to be operational in the second half of 2027 and first half of 2028.

CEO Marco Arcelli said: “Achieving financial close for this portfolio of renewable energy projects under the National Renewable Energy Program, including our first two wind projects in Saudi Arabia, marks a decisive step forward in realising the kingdom's ambitious renewable goals.”

“With this milestone, we are accelerating towards bringing these giga-scale projects to life, which directly contribute to energy security in the kingdom,” he added.