A consortium led by Saudi Arabia-based power plant developer, ACWA Power, composed of SPIC Huanghe Hydropower Development Company and Saudi Tabreed Cooling Company, has achieved financial close for the $1.3 billion senior debt facilities for the Red Sea multi-utilities project.
ACWA Power had been appointed by The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) to design, build, operate and transfer The Red Sea Project’s utilities infrastructure and relies entirely on renewable energy for power generation, water production, wastewater treatment and district cooling.
TRSDC, the developer behind the world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism project, is the procurer of the project, where all the utilities are being procured under a single offtake arrangement, unique for a contract of this kind. The first phase of the Red Sea Project in Saudi Arabia includes the provision of renewable energy, safe drinking water, wastewater treatment district cooling, and solid waste treatment for 16 hotels, an international airport, and infrastructure.
Paddy Padmanathan President & CEO ACWA Power
“We’re proud to be the provider of all utility services to the very exacting zero carbon emission, zero waste and zero plastic standards and are delighted to have achieved this milestone on yet another path-breaking project that is helping to meet the clean energy ambitions of Vision 2030. And most importantly, the commitment from such a diverse group of lenders is a testament to the strength of the vision and structure of this transaction.”
The energy requirements for the development will be generated on a sustainable, fully dispatchable basis by a 340MW solar photovoltaic plant with an associated storage system utilizing a battery energy storage system (BESS) plant for captive use, which at a design capacity of 1.200 GWh will, upon deployment, be one of the world’s largest utility-scale BESS systems.
The project will also include the construction of three seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plants with a total capacity of 32,500 cubic meters per day, a waste management center, and an innovative sewage treatment plant (STP) that will allow waste to be managed in a way that benefits the environment by creating new wetland habitats and supplementing irrigation water for the TRSDC landscape nursery.
