Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power to invest $30 billion in China by 2030

 

Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power looking to become a global leader in renewable energy

ACWA Power CEO Marco Arcelli has unveiled plans to invest $30 billion in ACWA Power China by 2030, underscoring the Saudi energy giant’s ambition to become a global leader in renewable energy and green hydrogen. Backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the company has already doubled its assets under management over the past three years and aims to double them again by the end of the decade.

The strategy reflects ACWA Power’s determination to extend Saudi Arabia’s clean energy ambitions beyond the Gulf. In China alone, the company has more than 300 megawatts (MW) of operational capacity in Guangdong, with a development pipeline exceeding 1 gigawatt (GW) across multiple provinces—from the solar-rich regions of Xinjiang to the wind corridors of Zhejiang.

China’s advanced manufacturing ecosystem provides a major competitive advantage. Access to leading suppliers such as JinkoSolar, Sungrow, and Mingyang enables faster project deployment and lower costs per megawatt compared with many other markets, including Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Vision 2030 and Integrated Growth

Saudi Vision 2030 continues to drive ACWA Power’s global expansion, emphasizing economic diversification through large-scale solar, wind, and desalination projects. The company’s model focuses on pairing advanced technology with scale to reduce costs and accelerate delivery.

 

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In water infrastructure, ACWA Power is already the world’s largest private desalination operator, producing billions of liters of fresh water daily. This expertise is central to its $8.4 billion NEOM Green Hydrogen project, which combines 1.2 GW of renewable energy with large-scale electrolyzers to produce up to 330,000 tonnes of green ammonia annually by 2027. The project integrates desalination in one of the world’s most water-scarce regions.

Another major development is planned in Yanbu, where renewable power generation and desalination will be combined to supply clean energy and water, further strengthening Saudi Arabia’s low-carbon infrastructure.

China as a Strategic Renewable Hub

China’s rapid rise in renewable energy capacity, supported by its 14th Five-Year Plan and long-term carbon neutrality goals, makes it a key market for ACWA Power. The country’s dominance in rare earths and clean energy supply chains also reinforces its strategic importance.

On January 14, 2025, ACWA Power formally entered the Chinese market, signing agreements for more than 1 GW of solar and wind projects with partners including Sungrow Renewables and Mingyang Smart Energy. These include a 132 MW photovoltaic project in Guangdong and a 100 MW wind independent power project in Jiangsu. Local partnerships help navigate China’s complex permitting and grid-connection processes.

With 300 MW already supplying electricity to the grid and additional projects awaiting approval, ACWA Power’s Chinese portfolio spans regions from the arid northwest to the central plains, supporting industrial growth, urbanization, and coal displacement.

 

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Green Hydrogen at Commercial Scale

Green hydrogen is central to ACWA Power’s long-term strategy. Produced by using renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, it offers a carbon-free fuel for heavy industry, transport, and chemical production, including ammonia.

Beyond NEOM, ACWA Power has partnered with POWERCHINA in Uzbekistan to deploy 20 MW of electrolyzers producing around 4,000 cubic meters of hydrogen per hour. The project demonstrates the commercial viability of combining renewables with hydrogen production and highlights the fuel’s potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions across multiple sectors.

As electrolyzer technologies improve and costs decline, green hydrogen is increasingly competitive with conventional, gas-based hydrogen, positioning it as a critical tool for decarbonizing steel, cement, shipping, and long-haul transport.

NEOM: A Global Benchmark

The NEOM Green Hydrogen project, developed with NEOM and Air Products, brings together 4 GW of renewable energy, advanced electrolyzers, ammonia production, and integrated desalination in a single, zero-carbon industrial hub. Scheduled to be fully operational by 2027, it will operate in a region with more than 2,800 hours of annual sunshine, demonstrating the feasibility of running large-scale industrial facilities entirely on renewable energy.

The project is widely seen as a blueprint for future carbon-free cities and industrial zones worldwide.

Partnerships and Broader Impacts

ACWA Power’s expanding footprint now stretches from the Middle East to Central Asia and East Asia. Projects such as the Uzbekistan hydrogen plant and a 2.8 GW solar-plus-storage initiative in Bahrain, developed with Bapco, highlight how regional cooperation can strengthen grids, build clean energy supply chains, and support economic diversification.

 

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These projects also generate employment, technology transfer, and skills development. In China, new solar and wind installations are creating thousands of local jobs, while hydrogen facilities in Central Asia are training a new generation of clean energy engineers.

Managing Demand and Policy Risks

Despite rapid progress, demand for green hydrogen is still developing. Delays in European hydrogen-based steel and ammonia projects and concerns about oversupply have slowed some markets. ACWA Power has responded by integrating flexible project designs that combine power sales, desalination, storage, and hydrogen production, allowing assets to shift between domestic and export markets as conditions change.

Regulatory challenges remain, including grid curtailment risks in China and evolving water and export frameworks in Saudi Arabia. However, ACWA Power’s experience in securing long-term power purchase agreements and offtake contracts provides resilience against policy uncertainty.

Looking Ahead

ACWA Power plans to invest around $20 billion annually to exceed 20 GW of clean energy capacity and produce up to one million tonnes of green hydrogen by the early 2030s. Alongside export-focused projects, the company is also piloting domestic hydrogen use in transport, ports, and industrial facilities, creating a balanced growth strategy.

By combining the strategic drive of Saudi Vision 2030 with China’s manufacturing strength and global partnerships, ACWA Power is positioning itself not just as a project developer, but as a key architect of the global clean energy transition—building the future of power, one gigawatt at a time.

Source: https://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/