Acwa Power’s solar plant plans in Bangladesh moves forward: Saudi renewables giant Acwa Power and the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) are ramping up plans to develop and launch a planned 1 GW solar plant with a proposed timeline of bringing the project online next year, Arab News reports, quoting Bangladesh’s Energy and Power Minister Nasrul Hamid.

New details: The project — which Acwa Power inked an agreement for in late November — is expected to cost some USD 1 bn, Hamid told the news outlet, adding that officials are currently completing feasibility studies on the project.

What we already knew: Acwa Power will bring the technical know-how and line up funding for the project, while BPDB will provide administrative support alongside the state-owned Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority.

More in the pipeline: Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh have also established a joint business council to support and accelerate cooperation in power generation — including the development of a solar power plant — and other sectors like agriculture and logistics, the news outlet reports.

Acwa Power is aggressively expanding its portfolio in Asia: The company has been investing heavily in a southeast Asian expansion with projects in Indonesia and Thailand, and signed power purchase and investment agreements with the National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan for a 1.5 GW, USD 2.4 bn wind energy farm. The company is also developing a 240 MW wind farm in Azerbaijan with a reported investment of USD 300 mn. Earlier this month, Acwa signed an agreement with Kazakhstan’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (Samruk-Kazyna) and the Kazakh Energy Ministry to build and manage a 1 GW wind farm and a battery energy storage facility in the country. Acwa also signed a USD 2.5 bn power purchase and investment agreement with Uzbekistan's Energy Ministry to develop two solar stations and three storage facilities this month.

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