ACWA Power has raised $2.3 billion of bank debt for three solar plants in Saudi Arabia, repayable over almost 28 years. The size is not the surprise. The shareholder list is. ACWA Power's financings either side of this one each carried a third partner, and this one does not.
Key takeaways
- ACWA Power secured $2.3 billion from a consortium of banks, announced on 15 February 2024, for the Ar Raas 2, Saad 2 and Al Kahfah solar projects in Saudi Arabia, with the funding provided over 27.75 years.
- The three ACWA Power solar plants total 4,550 MW: 2 GW at Ar Raas 2, 1.125 GW at Saad 2 and 1.425 GW at Al Kahfah, located in the central and northern regions of Saudi Arabia.
- ACWA Power holds a 50.1 percent equity stake in each of the three projects and the Water and Electricity Holding Company, known as Badeel, holds 49.9 percent.
- The ACWA Power lenders are Banque Saudi Fransi, Mizuho Bank, Riyad Bank, Saudi National Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Saudi Awwal Bank and HSBC; construction was expected to start by the end of Q4 2024 and commercial operation by December 2026.
- The $2.3 billion equals about $0.51 million of debt per MW, below ACWA Power's July 2023 Al Shuaibah senior debt at about $0.62 million per MW and above its September 2024 financing for three further plants at about $0.47 million per MW.
What does a 27.75-year tenor tell you about these plants?
It tells you lenders expect the plants to earn steadily for almost three decades. Tenor is the length of time a borrower has to repay a loan. The longer the tenor, the smaller each annual repayment, and the more of a project's cash flow is left after debt service in any one year.
Banks only stretch repayment this far when they are confident that revenue will last as long as the loan. A merchant solar plant, selling into a spot market, would rarely support it. The record does not set out the offtake arrangements for these three plants. ACWA Power's later financing for three more Saudi plants, recorded in September 2024, does name the buyer: power purchase agreements with the Saudi Power Procurement Company, signed in June 2024.
The two tenors are close. February 2024 runs for 27.75 years. September 2024 runs for about 27.3 years. That consistency suggests a lending template rather than a one-off negotiation.
Why does the shareholder list matter?
Because it changes who carries the equity and who controls the projects. In this financing there are two shareholders. ACWA Power holds 50.1 percent, a narrow majority, and Badeel holds 49.9 percent.
In the Al Shuaibah financing of July 2023, Saudi Aramco held a 30 percent stake alongside ACWA Power and Badeel. In the September 2024 financing for Haden, Muwayh and Al Khushaybi, ACWA Power held 35.1 percent, Badeel 34.9 percent and Saudi Aramco Power Company the remainder. The February 2024 round is the only one of the three in which ACWA Power holds a majority, and the only one with no Aramco entity on the register.
A majority stake gives ACWA Power more say over how the plants are built and run. It also means ACWA Power must fund a larger share of the equity that sits beneath the $2.3 billion of debt. The record does not disclose the equity amount, so the total project cost cannot be derived.
How does the debt per megawatt compare with ACWA Power's other Saudi financings?
It sits in the middle of a falling line. Dividing each debt amount by the capacity it funds gives a simple measure of leverage per megawatt.
Al Shuaibah raised about $1.65 billion of senior debt for 2,660 MW across Al Shuaibah 1 and 2, roughly $0.62 million per MW. That senior debt was part of a $2.2 billion package that also included a $600 million commercial facility, so the senior debt is the like-for-like comparison. The February 2024 round raised $2.3 billion for 4,550 MW, about $0.51 million per MW. The September 2024 round raised $2.6 billion for 5,500 MW, about $0.47 million per MW.
Each step is a bigger portfolio with less debt per megawatt. The record does not say why, and several factors could contribute, including equipment prices, plant design and the amount of equity each sponsor group put in. What the numbers do show is that scale has not pushed leverage up.
The lending group is also consistent. Banque Saudi Fransi, Mizuho Bank, Riyad Bank, Saudi National Bank and Standard Chartered Bank appear in all three ACWA Power debt packages. HSBC joins from February 2024 onward, and Saudi Awwal Bank appears only in this round. The repeat names point to a core group of lenders that has become familiar with this type of asset.
Enerdatics records seven solar financings in Saudi Arabia announced in 2023 and 2024. Five disclose an amount, together $7.2 billion, and ACWA Power is a party to four of those five, worth $7.1 billion, or about 99 percent of the disclosed total. The only other priced financing is a $100 million loan from APICORP and Riyad Bank for TotalEnergies' Wadi Al Dawasir project in June 2023.
What does the deal signal for Saudi solar financing?
That Saudi utility-scale solar has become a repeatable financing product. Three packages in fourteen months, each for several gigawatts, each with a tenor above 27 years and largely the same lenders, look less like bespoke project finance and more like a programme.
It also shows how concentrated the visible market is. Almost all disclosed solar debt in the Kingdom over 2023 and 2024 went to ACWA Power and its partners. Other sponsors, such as JinKO Power at Tabarjal and the EDF, Masdar, Korea East-West Power and Suez group at AMAALA, raised debt in 2024 without disclosing amounts.
The pattern continued after this deal. In 2025, ACWA Power, Badeel and Saudi Aramco Power Company announced a further and larger renewables portfolio, covered in this Enerdatics post on the ACWA Power, Badeel and Saudi Aramco Power Company pact, and other sponsors have since raised debt for large Saudi solar portfolios, as the EDF and SPIC solar financing in Saudi Arabia shows. For lenders, the question is no longer whether Saudi solar can be financed over almost three decades, but how many more gigawatts the same bank group can absorb.
Frequently asked questions
Which projects does ACWA Power's $2.3 billion financing cover? The 2 GW Ar Raas 2, 1.125 GW Saad 2 and 1.425 GW Al Kahfah solar projects in the central and northern regions of Saudi Arabia, 4,550 MW in total.
Who owns the three projects? ACWA Power holds 50.1 percent of each project and the Water and Electricity Holding Company (Badeel) holds 49.9 percent.
When are the plants expected to operate? Construction was expected to begin by the end of Q4 2024, and the projects were anticipated to reach commercial operation by December 2026.
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