Acwa Power buys into the US power market as the junior partner in a USD 4 bn vehicle with EIG

Acwa Power is making its first big move into the US, signing a joint-venture agreement with Washington-based investor EIG to build a power-generation and energy-storage platform in the US market. The vehicle — Plenum Power — is targeting a launch with around USD 4 bn in initial equity, the two said in a joint statement. Acwa will take 49% and EIG 51%, Acwa said in a Tadawul filing. This hands the financial sponsor rather than the operating partner the majority stake in the platform.

Acwa and EIG are buying in during a dislocation in US renewables. The two expect US power demand — pushed up by electrification and the rollout of AI data centers — to require significant new generation, storage, and investment, and they read the current pressure on US renewable developers from regulatory change, supply-chain inflation, and higher interest rates as a discount rather than a deterrent. That has opened “an attractive entry point for a new entrant at scale,” EIG CEO R. Blair Thomas said, and both partners expect the squeeze to force consolidation Plenum can buy into alongside developing new capacity.

No capital is committed yet. The agreement sets the framework, with deployment still subject to governance, investment criteria, and case-by-case sign-off.

Acwa’s international expansion has taken it across several new markets this year. Acwa has signed agreements for renewable power generation in Mongolia and Turkey, clean energy investments in Indonesia, a gas turbine power plant in Mauritania, a gas-fired plant in South Africa, and a solar and battery storage facility in the Philippines.