ACWA Power eyes fin close on 700-MW CSP plan in Q1 2018 - report

Saudi company ACWA Power expects to achieve financial close on a 700-MW concentrated solar power (CSP) project in Dubai in the first quarter of next year, The National reports.

CEO Paddy Padmanathan has told the newspaper that construction of the AED-14.2-billion (USD 3.87bn/EUR 3.28bn) park is scheduled to be launched immediately after financial close is achieved. The facility will be phase IV of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar power complex, which is planned to reach 1 GW by 2020 and 5 GW by 2030. The CSP plant will use a 260-metre (853 ft) tower with parabolic trough CSP and will also have molten salt energy storage.

ACWA Power and its partner Shanghai Electric Group Co Ltd (HKG:2727) won the tender to build the 700-MW plant in September after making the lowest bid of USD 0.073 (EUR 0.062) per kWh. The companies said at the time that the park will be completed in several stages, with commissioning slated to begin from the fourth quarter of 2020 onwards.

Speaking on ACWA Power’s future plans, Padmanathan said that the developer intends to gradually expand its overseas operations and make them account for 60% of its total business. Next year, ACWA Power intends to spend about USD 4 billion on renewable energy projects in the UAE, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco, and also file for an initial public offering (IPO), the CEO added, as quoted by The National.

(AED 1.0 = USD 0.272/EUR 0.231)

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.849)

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