ACWA Power — Renewables Titan With a 93 GW Pipeline Powering Saudi Arabia's Green Transition

ACWA Power — The Saudi Company Quietly Becoming a Global Clean Energy Superpower

While Saudi Aramco dominates headlines as the world’s oil colossus, another Saudi company has been building an energy empire of a very different kind. ACWA Power, listed on the Saudi stock exchange (Tadawul) and partially owned by PIF, has assembled a portfolio of power generation and water desalination assets spanning over 30 countries with a combined capacity exceeding 93 gigawatts — making it one of the largest independent power producers in the world and a critical enabler of the energy transition across the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, and beyond.

ACWA Power’s story is simultaneously a Saudi success story and a global energy story. The company was founded in 2004 as a vehicle for developing independent power projects in Saudi Arabia, taking advantage of the Kingdom’s push to attract private investment in utilities infrastructure. Two decades later, ACWA Power develops, owns, and operates power plants and desalination facilities that serve hundreds of millions of people across multiple continents. Its portfolio spans solar photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, wind, natural gas, and green hydrogen, as well as some of the world’s largest seawater desalination plants.

The company’s trajectory from a Saudi power project developer to a global clean energy major reflects both the growth of renewable energy markets worldwide and Saudi Arabia’s strategic decision to position itself as a leader in the energy transition rather than merely an oil exporter that will be left behind by it.

The Portfolio

ACWA Power’s portfolio in 2026 encompasses approximately 93 GW of power generation capacity across various stages — operational, under construction, and advanced development. This figure places ACWA Power among the world’s largest independent power producers, comparable in scale to companies like EDF, Enel, and Iberdrola that have been building power assets for many decades longer.

The portfolio is increasingly weighted toward renewables. Solar photovoltaic projects constitute the fastest-growing segment, with massive utility-scale solar farms in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Uzbekistan, and other markets. ACWA Power’s Sudair Solar project in Saudi Arabia — one of the world’s largest solar PV plants at 1.5 GW — exemplifies the scale at which the company operates.

Concentrated solar power (CSP) is another distinctive capability. ACWA Power developed the Noor Energy 1 project in Dubai — the world’s largest single-site CSP project, featuring a 260-meter-tall solar tower that is among the tallest structures in the UAE. CSP technology, which generates electricity by concentrating sunlight to produce steam, offers the advantage of built-in thermal energy storage, allowing power generation to continue after sunset — addressing solar energy’s intermittency challenge.

Wind power is a growing portfolio segment, with projects in Morocco, Egypt, and Central Asia. ACWA Power’s wind investments have expanded as the company has moved into markets where wind resources complement solar resources, enabling more balanced renewable energy portfolios.

Natural gas-fired power plants remain part of the portfolio, serving baseload generation needs in markets where renewable penetration is still insufficient for reliable 24/7 power supply. However, the proportion of gas-fired capacity in the overall portfolio is declining as renewables become more cost-competitive and ACWA Power prioritizes clean energy investments.

Desalination: Water for Arid Nations

ACWA Power is one of the world’s largest developers of seawater desalination facilities, a critical capability in a region where freshwater scarcity is an existential challenge. The company’s desalination portfolio includes some of the largest and most efficient plants ever built, serving the water needs of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and other water-scarce nations.

The Jubail 3A Independent Water Producer (IWP) project in Saudi Arabia, developed by ACWA Power, is one of the world’s largest reverse osmosis desalination plants. The facility produces over 600,000 cubic meters of desalinated water per day — enough to serve a city of several million people.

ACWA Power’s desalination expertise is particularly relevant to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 development program. The Kingdom’s rapidly growing cities — particularly Riyadh, which is expanding from 8 million to a projected 15 million residents — require massive increases in water supply that can only come from desalination. ACWA Power’s ability to deliver desalination capacity at competitive costs is essential to the feasibility of Saudi Arabia’s urban growth plans.

The company has been at the forefront of reducing desalination energy consumption through advanced reverse osmosis technology, energy recovery systems, and integration with renewable energy sources. The vision of solar-powered desalination — producing freshwater from sunlight and seawater — is becoming commercially viable through ACWA Power’s projects, offering a model that could transform water supply in arid regions worldwide.

Hydrogen: The Next Frontier

ACWA Power’s most strategically significant venture is green hydrogen production. The company is a key partner in the NEOM Green Hydrogen Company, a joint venture with Air Products and NEOM that is developing one of the world’s largest green hydrogen production facilities.

The NEOM hydrogen project, located within the NEOM development zone, will use solar and wind energy to power electrolyzers that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The green hydrogen will be converted into green ammonia — a form that can be transported by ship — and exported to international markets, primarily in Asia and Europe, where demand for clean hydrogen is growing rapidly as industries seek to decarbonize.

The project’s scale is unprecedented: it is designed to produce approximately 600 tons of green hydrogen per day, enough to eliminate several million tons of annual CO2 emissions if it displaces grey hydrogen produced from natural gas. When fully operational, the facility will demonstrate that green hydrogen can be produced at scale in locations with excellent renewable energy resources, providing a template for similar projects worldwide.

ACWA Power’s hydrogen strategy extends beyond the NEOM project. The company is exploring green hydrogen opportunities in other markets and developing expertise in the full hydrogen value chain — from renewable power generation through electrolysis to hydrogen storage, transportation, and utilization. This value chain capability positions ACWA Power as a potential global leader in what many energy analysts expect to be a multi-trillion-dollar hydrogen economy by 2050.

Business Model and Financial Performance

ACWA Power operates primarily as a developer and long-term owner of power and water assets under concession agreements with government off-takers. The typical project structure involves ACWA Power winning a competitive tender, arranging project financing (typically non-recourse debt constituting 70-80 percent of project costs), building the facility, and operating it under a 20-25 year power purchase agreement or water purchase agreement that provides predictable revenue streams.

This business model generates stable, long-term cash flows that are relatively insulated from commodity price volatility — a contrast with the revenue profile of oil and gas companies. The predictability of revenue, combined with the essential nature of the services (electricity and water), makes ACWA Power an attractive investment for institutional investors and lenders.

ACWA Power’s IPO on the Tadawul in 2021 was one of the most successful listings in Saudi market history, with shares surging on debut and the company achieving a market capitalization that reflected investor enthusiasm for the clean energy transition. PIF holds approximately 44 percent of ACWA Power’s shares, making it the largest shareholder and ensuring strategic alignment with Vision 2030’s energy transition objectives.

Financial performance has been strong. Revenue and earnings growth have been driven by the commissioning of new projects, geographic expansion, and the global tailwind of increasing investment in renewable energy and desalination infrastructure. The company’s order backlog — projects won but not yet operational — provides years of revenue visibility.

Geographic Diversification

ACWA Power operates across a remarkably diverse geographic footprint spanning the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan), North Africa (Morocco, Egypt), Sub-Saharan Africa (South Africa, Ethiopia), Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan), and Southeast Asia. This diversification reduces dependence on any single market and exposes the company to some of the world’s fastest-growing power and water markets.

Each market presents distinct opportunities and challenges. Central Asian markets offer strong wind and solar resources, growing power demand, and government commitment to energy transition but require navigation of complex regulatory and political environments. African markets offer enormous long-term potential but present financing, infrastructure, and political risk challenges. Middle Eastern markets provide the company’s operational foundation and offer continued growth through utility expansion and green hydrogen development.

Technology and Innovation

ACWA Power’s competitive advantage rests partly on its ability to deliver projects at the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE) in competitive tender processes. The company has consistently won tenders with record-low tariff bids, reflecting its expertise in project optimization, procurement efficiency, and risk management.

Technology innovation supports cost competitiveness. ACWA Power works with leading equipment suppliers — solar panel manufacturers, turbine producers, desalination membrane companies, and electrolyzer manufacturers — to ensure access to the latest, most efficient technologies. The company’s projects often serve as references for new technologies, providing manufacturers with large-scale deployment data that advances the entire industry.

The company has established an innovation center in Riyadh that focuses on renewable energy optimization, desalination efficiency, hydrogen production technology, and digital solutions for plant operations and maintenance. This investment in R&D ensures that ACWA Power remains at the technological frontier as the energy transition accelerates.

Workforce and Saudization

ACWA Power employs several thousand professionals across its global operations, with the largest concentration in Saudi Arabia. The company has been a leader in developing Saudi talent for the renewable energy sector, operating training programs, graduate recruitment schemes, and university partnerships that build domestic expertise in engineering disciplines — electrical, mechanical, chemical, and environmental — that are essential for clean energy and water infrastructure.

The company’s workforce development efforts address a structural gap in the Saudi labor market. While Saudi universities produce thousands of engineering graduates annually, relatively few have historically specialized in renewable energy, desalination technology, or project finance — the core competencies that ACWA Power’s business requires. The company’s training programs bridge this gap, providing recent graduates with the specialized skills and practical experience needed for careers in the clean energy sector.

ACWA Power’s Saudization targets are ambitious and reflect the company’s role as a national champion in the energy transition. Saudi nationals hold an increasing proportion of engineering, project management, and corporate roles, and the company actively promotes Saudi professionals into leadership positions. The development of a Saudi clean energy workforce is strategically important beyond ACWA Power’s own needs — it creates a talent pool that serves the broader renewable energy industry, including the solar, wind, and hydrogen projects being developed by PIF subsidiaries, international developers, and Saudi startups.

Governance and Ownership

ACWA Power’s governance structure reflects its dual identity as a publicly listed company accountable to shareholders and a strategic instrument of Saudi Arabia’s energy policy. PIF’s approximately 44 percent stake makes it the controlling shareholder, with the remaining shares held by institutional and retail investors on the Tadawul stock exchange.

The board of directors includes representatives of PIF, independent directors with international energy sector experience, and Saudi business leaders. The governance framework establishes investment committees, risk management protocols, and audit oversight that meet the standards expected of a major listed company.

The company’s leadership, under CEO Marco Arcelli, combines international energy sector expertise with deep understanding of the Saudi market and regulatory environment. The management team has navigated the complex political and commercial dynamics of operating across 30+ countries, each with different regulatory frameworks, political risks, and market structures.

Environmental and Social Impact

ACWA Power’s environmental impact is significant and growing. The company’s renewable energy projects displace fossil fuel generation that would otherwise produce millions of tons of CO2 emissions annually. The cumulative avoided emissions from ACWA Power’s operational renewable portfolio represent one of the largest clean energy contributions of any company in the developing world.

The social impact extends to the communities where ACWA Power operates. In addition to direct employment, the company’s projects create indirect jobs in construction, maintenance, and supply chain services. Community development programs in project areas address education, healthcare, and infrastructure needs, building social license for operations and creating lasting value beyond the project’s commercial life.

ACWA Power’s desalination projects have a particularly direct social impact — they provide the freshwater that millions of people depend on for drinking, cooking, and sanitation. In water-scarce regions, access to reliable, clean water is a fundamental determinant of quality of life, and ACWA Power’s role in providing this essential service gives the company a social significance that transcends its commercial function.

Competition and Market Position

ACWA Power competes with global energy and water companies including EDF, Engie, Masdar (Abu Dhabi), TAQA, and various international independent power producers. The company’s competitive advantages include low-cost financing (supported by PIF’s backing and Saudi sovereign credit), extensive Middle Eastern market knowledge, strong relationships with government off-takers, and a proven track record of delivering projects at competitive tariffs.

The competition for projects is intensifying as the energy transition accelerates and more companies — both established utilities and new entrants — pursue renewable energy development. ACWA Power’s response has been to strengthen its technology partnerships, expand into new geographies, and develop differentiated capabilities (particularly in green hydrogen and hybrid renewable projects) that provide competitive moats.

Risk Management

ACWA Power’s global operations expose the company to political, regulatory, currency, and operational risks across diverse markets. The company’s risk management framework addresses country risk through portfolio diversification, currency risk through natural hedging and financial instruments, construction risk through experienced project delivery teams, and operational risk through maintenance protocols and performance monitoring systems.

The concentration of sovereign off-takers (government utilities that purchase power and water under long-term contracts) provides revenue predictability but also creates exposure to sovereign credit risk. ACWA Power manages this exposure by limiting concentration in any single market and by structuring project finance with credit enhancement mechanisms that protect equity investors.

Expo 2030 Relevance

ACWA Power’s relevance to Expo 2030 is both direct and thematic. Directly, ACWA Power’s renewable energy and desalination projects provide the power and water infrastructure that Riyadh’s growth and the Expo campus require. Thematically, ACWA Power embodies the narrative that Saudi Arabia — the world’s largest oil exporter — is also a leader in clean energy technology and deployment.

ACWA Power is expected to be a prominent exhibitor at Expo 2030, showcasing its renewable energy projects, desalination technology, and green hydrogen production as evidence that the energy transition is not only compatible with Saudi prosperity but central to it.

Conclusion

ACWA Power represents a dimension of Saudi Arabia’s transformation that receives less attention than giga-projects and entertainment but may ultimately prove more consequential. The company is building the clean energy and water infrastructure that makes modern life possible in arid environments, developing green hydrogen production at a scale that could help decarbonize global industry, and proving that a Saudi company can compete and win in global clean energy markets. As the world debates how to achieve net-zero emissions, ACWA Power is delivering answers — one solar farm, one desalination plant, and one hydrogen electrolyzer at a time.