Acwa Power launches commercial operations of 700 MW solar plant: Saudi renewables player Acwa Power inaugurated its 700 MW Ar Rass 1 PV plant in Saudi Arabia’s Qassim province after receiving a commercial operation certificate for the USD 450 mn project, according to a Sunday press release.

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About the plant: Acwa Power signed a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement with the Saudi Power Procurement Company in 2022 to develop, construct, and operate the Ar Rass 1 project, with the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) as the sole offtaker. The facility will have the capacity to power up to 132k homes, offsetting 1.5 mn tons of emissions per annum. Acwa Power holds a 40.1% stake in the facility, while PIF’s Water and Electricity Holding Company (Badeel) owns 20%, and China’s State Power Investment Corporation holds 39.9%.

BACKGROUND- Acwa said in its 1H 2024 earnings release earlier this month that it was set to start commercial operations for four projects worth USD 3.1 bn by the end of the year, including the Ar Rass PV plant. The company added 10.5 GW of renewable power and 400k cbm per day of water to its portfolio through new agreements signed in 1H 2024. Some 1.5 GW of power and 76k cbm per day of desalination capacity reached initial or commercial operations last year.

Ar Rass 2 is also in the works: Badeel and Acwa Power also signed a power purchase agreement with SPPC last year to develop and operate the 2 GW Ar Rass 2 solar farm. China’s Arctech was tapped to provide solar tracking solutions for L&T Construction’s Ar Rass 2 in January. Solar tracker manufacturer PV Hardware will also provide Ar Rass 2 Solar PV Park with 957 MW of its solar trackers.

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