Acwa Power to build $800m desalination plant in Senegal

Acwa Power

Acwa Power, Saudi Arabia’s operator of power generation and desalinated water production plants, will construct a SAR3 billion ($800 million) desalination plant in Dakar, Senegal.

The company signed an agreement with Senegal’s ministry of water and sanitation and state-backed National Water Company, to build a 400,000 cubic metres per day desalination plant in Dakar.

The capacity is divided into two phases, each with a production capacity of 200,000 cubic metres per day.

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The Saudi company will develop, finance, build and operate the Grand Cote seawater desalination plant using reverse osmosis technology.

The contract duration is 32 years, the company said in a statement to the Saudi stock exchange on Thursday.

Acwa Power expects the project to have a positive financial impact after the first phase becomes operational by the beginning of 2028.

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In December 2023, Raad Al-Saady, vice chairman and managing director of Acwa Power, said the company was targeting future investments in Africa as part of the clean energy company’s plan to triple in size by 2030.

“Africa needs that energy transition. But there aren’t enough developers going there and asking questions,” he said during a panel discussion at Cop28.

Earlier this month, Acwa Power CEO Marco Arcelli said the company has started due diligence on up to eight projects in China.

“The first one will be announced in the coming few months,” he said in the company’s Q4 2023 financial statement.

Acwa Power, backed by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, has 75 assets in various stages of development and in operation in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and Southeast Asia.

The total investment value is nearly SAR300 billion, with the capacity to generate 50.1 GW of power and manage 7.6 million m3 of desalinated water per day.

In 2023, Acwa Power achieved financial closure on 12 projects worth a combined investment cost of SAR60 billion, which includes the Neom green hydrogen project.