The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) has awarded a contract to a consortium led by ACWA Power to deliver renewables infrastructure.
The consortium will design, build, operate and transfer utilities infrastructure for The Red Sea Project, a tourism destination powered by renewable energy on the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast.
Energy will be generated by solar and wind to meet an initial demand of 210MW with the ability to expand in line with the development.
Included in the package is the world’s largest battery storage facility of one gigawatt-hour, which is expected to allow the destination to remain completely off-grid and powered by renewables day and night.
The agreement also covers the construction of three seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plants, designed to provide clean drinking water, a waste management centre and a sewage treatment plant that is expected to allow waste to be managed in a way that enhances the environment, by creating new wetland habitats and supplementing irrigation water for the TRSDC landscape nursery.
The ACWA Power consortium is financed by Saudi and international banks, including the UK’s Standard Chartered Bank.
The contract was procured as an independent public-private partnership (PPP), intended to cover the design, construction and operation of the systems providing utilities, accompanied by the associated networks and infrastructure.
The Red Sea Project is not investing any of its own capital and is instead committing to purchase its utilities from the consortium for the next 25 years.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth vehicle the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns TRSDC, will provide the guarantee for the 25-year offtake agreement.