Masdar, consortium achieve financial close for Al Sadawi solar project in Saudi Arabia

Logo of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co. PJSC (Masdar)

Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co. PJSC (Masdar), together with a consortium comprising GD Power Development Co. and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), announced the financial close of the two-gigawatt (GW) Al Sadawi solar photovoltaic (PV) project.

In a statement, Masdar underlined that eight regional and international banks participated in financing the project, covering a significant portion of the estimated cost of $1.1 billion.

The financing banks included Standard Chartered, Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), BNP Paribas, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), Bank of China (BOC), HSBC, and Société Générale.

The Al Sadawi plant supports Saudi Arabia’s target of achieving 50% renewable energy by 2030. It falls under the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP), which is led and supervised by the Ministry of Energy and is set to be one of the largest solar power plants in the world.

Located in Eastern Province, the project will be developed under a build-own-operate (BOO) model, backed by a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) signed with the Saudi Power Procurement Co. (SPPC) in 2024-end.

The plant is expected to reach full power generation capacity by early 2027 and commence commercial operations within the same year.