ACWA Power led consortium close financing for $1.59bn loan to supply TRSDC with clean energy

RIYADH: A consortium led by ACWA Power closed the financing for a $1.59 billion power project at The Red Sea Development Co., or TRSDC, according to a statement.

The consortium led by ACWA Power, and composed of SPIC Huanghe Hydropower Development Company and Saudi Tabreed Cooling Company, closed a $1.302 billion senior debt facilities for the Red Sea multi-utilities project.

The senior debt project is financed through a combination of US dollar denominated and Saudi Riyal denominated soft mini-perm and long-term financing provided by a consortium of Saudi Arabian and international banks, including the Al Rajhi Bank, APICORP, Bank Saudi Fransi, Riyad Bank, Saudi British Bank, Saudi National Bank and Standard Chartered.

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

Paddy Padmanathan, CEO and Vice Chairman, ACWA Power

First Phase

TRSDC —the developer behind the world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism project — appointed ACWA Power to design, build, operate and transfer The Red Sea Project’s utilities infrastructure that relies entirely on renewable energy for power generation, water production, wastewater treatment and district cooling.

It is also the procurer of the project, which includes the provision of renewable power, potable water, wastewater treatment district cooling and solid waste treatment for 16 hotels, an international airport and infrastructure that make up phase one of The Red Sea Project in Saudi Arabia.

First phase of the Project is set to open by the end of 2022.

The Red Sea Project is not investing any of its own capital and is instead committing to purchase its utilities from the consortium for the next 25 years. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth vehicle the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns TRSDC, will provide the guarantee for the 25-year offtake agreement.

One of the world’s largest 

The project will have a 340MW solar photovoltaic plant with an associated storage system utilising a battery energy storage system plant for captive use, which at a design capacity of around 1.200 GWh will, upon deployment, be one of the world’s largest utility-scale system of its kind.

The system is currently sized to meet the initial demand of TRSDC, with the ability to expand in line with the development.

The energy system has been designed to allow the development to remain completely off-grid and powered by renewables. 

The scope of the project also includes construction of three seawater reverse osmosis plants totaling a capacity of 32,500 cubic meters per day at the project, designed to provide clean drinking water, a waste management centre and an innovative sewage treatment plant that will allow waste to be managed in a way that enhances the environment, by creating new wetland habitats and supplementing irrigation water for the TRSDC landscape nursery.