Acwa Power plans to invest $50bn in China by 2030

• Focus on clean power
• 1.3GW of renewable energy this year
• Plans to add 5GW annually

Saudi energy company Acwa Power plans to invest up to $50 billion in renewable energy projects in China, a senior executive said on Tuesday. 

Lyu Yunhe, Acwa Power’s head of China operations, said they aim to work with Chinese state-owned companies to acquire clean power assets with a value of up to 20GW and an additional 1 million tonnes of green hydrogen. 

“We have a huge ambition of investing in China up to $50 billion by 2030 in green energy, renewable, green hydrogen and desalination water,” Lyu told Bloomberg in a TV interview. 

“By the end of this year, we are planning to have 1.3GW of renewable capacity in China.”

He said the company will add 4GW to 6GW next year and between 5GW and 6GW every year after that. 

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Lyu said Acwa will work with state-owned companies in China on projects both in their home country and overseas. 

He said Acwa has already worked with China Southern Grid International on a wind project in Uzbekistan and with state-owned utility State Power Investment Corporation on power projects in Saudi Arabia. 

Since President Xi visited Saudi Arabia in 2022 there has been a huge increase in government relations and visits between the two countries, Lyu said. 

There is a lot more investment and “developers going out of China to find new markets”, he said. 

The economies in Saudi Arabia and China complement each other, he said. 

“Under the 2030 Vision, Saudi Arabia is promoting industrialisation and they will need lots of manufacturers, contractors and financiers to come to Saudi and invest in Saudi,” Lyu said. 

“China, being the largest manufacturing and industrial base, also has a huge number of investors who have huge interests going out [overseas]. This creates a natural complementing business advantage between China and the Middle East.”

In July the Saudi-listed company divested a 35 percent stake in two subsidiaries to China Southern Power Grid International for SAR596 million ($159 million). The sale allowed Acwa Power to use its capital recycling strategy and promote cooperation with strong equity partners, it said.

A consortium of three subsidiaries of China Energy Engineering Corporation was awarded a $972 million engineering, procurement and construction contract In August to build a 2GW solar project near Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

And in October it signed an agreement with China’s Lujiazui Administration Bureau to establish a research and development centre in Shanghai.