ACWA Power


ACWA Power is a developer, investor, co-owner and operator of a portfolio of power generation and desalinated water production plants currently with presence in 10 countries including in the Middle East and North Africa, Southern Africa and South East Asia regions. ACWA Power’s portfolio, with an investment value in excess of USD 33 billion, can generate more than 22 GW of power and produce 2.5 million m3/day of desalinated water to be 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.
Its energy portfolio includes efficient combined cycle power plants, solar and Concentrated Solar Power, geothermal, wind, waste-to-energy and coal pollution mitigation.

Background

Headquartered in Saudi Arabia, ACWA Power maintains regional offices in Dubai, Istanbul, Cairo, Rabat, Johannesburg, Hanoi and Beijing. It invests in, develops, co-owns and operates a portfolio of 32 plants on three continents, with the capacity to generate 22.8GW of power and produce 2.5 million m3/day of desalinated water. ACWA Power and its subsidiary operating companies employ over 3,000 people in projects in 11 different countries.
As of 2014, 8% of ACWA Power's energy portfolio was in renewable energy. ACWA Power has expressed an intention to increase its investment in renewables: of the new bids and projects still in the financing stage announced in 2014 US$7.4 billion of US$15 billion were in renewable energy.

Structure

ACWA Power's board of directors is chaired by Mohammad Abdullah Abunayyan and Paddy Padmanathan serves as its CEO and President.

History

In 2002, the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia changed the regulations so that the private sector was permitted to own and operate utilities such as water and power plants.
The company was founded in its current form in 2008 and succeeded ACWA Power Projects, a joint venture between ACWA Holding and the MADA Group for Industrial and Commercial Development founded in 2004 to take advantage of these new private sector investment and operation opportunities in the Saudi Arabian market.
From 2004 to 2011, ACWA Power focused primarily on Saudi Arabia, and was awarded contracts for the Shuqaiq and Marafiq Integrated water and power plants. The company began its current phase of international expansion in 2011 with the acquisition of Central Electricity Generating Company Jordan and the signature of a joint development agreement for the Kirikkale Combined Cycle Gas Turbine project in Turkey, which subsequently won backing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The company has since expanded throughout the world, although its core holdings remain the MENA region.
In 2020 ACWA Power announced planes to invest around $10 Billion in over 10 countries. The company already operates in 12 countries, the announcement marks their intent to enter in five new countries including Ethiopia, Tunisia, Cambodia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. The announcement came at the backdrop of winning renewable energy projects in Azerbaijan and Ethiopia.

Notable projects and contracts

Bokpoort Independent Power Project, South Africa

According to the Revised Power Development Plan VII, the current status of the project is as follows:
ACWA Power won the following awards in 2014: