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  • Saudi Arabia Announces Transformative 3.6 GW Power Projects in Partnership with SEC, ACWA Power, and KEPCO

    Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), ACWA Power, and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) have signed Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) for two major power generation projects: Rumah 1 and Nairyah 1. With a combined capacity of 3.6 GW, these Independent Power Plant (IPP) projects represent a significant step in advancing Saudi Arabia’s sustainable energy goals. The projects, with an estimated investment of SAR 15 billion (USD 4 billion), will deploy advanced Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) technology to transition from oil-based power generation to cleaner, more efficient methods. This shift is expected to reduce carbon emissions, enhance environmental sustainability, and drive economic growth by creating job opportunities and boosting local content.

  • Gulf states wedge AI efforts between superpowers: podcast

    The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are building home-grown silicon smarts and forging links with the likes of Microsoft. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss how the region is muscling its way into a technology arms race between China and the US.

  • Saudi’s SPPC signs PPAs for 9.2GW power projects

    The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) for five independent power producer (IPP) projects, including thermal and solar photovoltaic power projects, totalling 9.2GW.  The PPAs were signed with a consortium of Acwa Power, the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) for Rumah-1. The levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) is 4.5859 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), while Nairyah-1’s LCOE is 4.6114 cents/kWh.

  • The $4 Trillion Gulf Funds and the Power Brokers Who Run Them

    For a sense of scale: Sovereign funds from Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Qatar made up 40% of the value of all deals done by global state-backed investors during the the first nine months of 2024, according to data from Global SWF. In all, regional entities oversee close to $4 trillion of assets, making them key players in global dealmaking. That means some of these moves, and any changes to investment strategies, could reverberate across the financial ecosystem.

  • Saudis Plan $100 Billion AI Powerhouse to Rival UAE Tech Hub

    The state-backed entity will invest in data centers, startups and other infrastructure to develop artificial intelligence, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing plans that aren’t yet public. The initiative, called “Project Transcendence,” will also focus on recruiting new talent to the kingdom, developing the local ecosystem and encouraging tech companies to put resources in the country, they said. An AI hub being built by Saudi Arabia’s PIF and Alphabet Inc.’s Google may serve as the starting point for a broader initiative, the people said. The companies are planning to invest between $5 billion and $10 billion in the partnership, which will include work on creating Arabic language AI models, one person said. Alphabet shares gained 4% on Wednesday to $176.51.

  • Apprehension in Iran as Trump returns to power

    Donald Trump’s political comeback has sparked a deluge of mostly negative reactions in Iran. Many in Tehran—including hardliners—have expressed resentment at his return to the White House. However, some view Trump’s victory as an opportunity for Reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian to engage with the US.

  • Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power eyes new markets, more green hydrogen plants

    Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power hopes to triple its business in the next five years to reach $250 billion in assets under management, a top company official said this week. ACWA Power’s chief investment officer, Thomas Brostrom, said the company currently has about $95 billion in assets under management. “We have a very ambitious growth plan,” Brostrom said in an interview at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit in Riyadh, highlighting significant agreements signed this week worth over $1.78 million. “You can feel the energy, it’s really bustling and sparkling energy,” Brostrom said of the FII.

  • Saudi Arabia and India agree to study feasibility of establishing power grid

    The second Ministerial Meeting of the Economy and Investment Committee under the Saudi-India Strategic Partnership Council was held in Riyadh. The meeting was co-chaired by Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and India's Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal. During the meeting, Prince Abdulaziz and Goyal witnessed the signing of an agreement between the Saudi National Electricity Transmission Company and the Central Transmission Utility of India to study the feasibility of electrical interconnection between the two countries. The minutes of the Economy and Investment Committee of the Saudi-Indian Strategic Partnership Council was also signed on the occasion.

  • US power grid added battery equivalent of 20 nuclear reactors in past four years

    From barely anything just a few years ago, the US is now adding utility-scale batteries at a dizzying pace, having installed more than 20 gigawatts of battery capacity to the electric grid, with 5GW of this occurring just in the first seven months of this year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA).

  • How investment in solar capacity is powering Saudi Arabia’s sustainable energy future

    By the end of the decade, Saudi Arabia aims to generate 58.7 gigawatts of renewable energy. This includes 40 GW from solar photovoltaics, alongside 16 GW from wind energy and 2.7 GW from concentrated solar power. In 2024, Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi minister for energy, announced plans to tender new renewable energy projects with an annual capacity of 20 GW. This could potentially lead to a total capacity of 100-130 GW by 2030.