Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power Co. will reportedly build two large-scale solar plants in Türkiye under a deal expected within days, the first concrete step in its plan to invest billions of dollars in the country’s energy sector, according to a report on Thursday.
Acwa and Turkish officials are finalizing a contract for two 1-gigawatt (GW) plants in the Karaman and Sivas provinces, Bloomberg quoted Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar as saying in an interview on Tuesday.
The two sides are also in talks over an additional 3 gigawatts of renewables capacity, he said.
Energy has been one of the areas in which Türkiye looked to attract Gulf investment in recent years as it seeks to ramp up power generation from renewables to 120 gigawatts by 2035.
Bayraktar declined to comment on the value of Acwa’s investment, but Türkiye said last year that it was in discussions with the Saudi firm for $5 billion worth of projects, Bloomberg said in an exclusive report.
Turkish broadcaster CNBC-e first reported the imminent solar deal.
"Acwa Power continuously evaluates various markets for potential opportunities, but we do not comment on specific countries or regions," a spokesperson said in response to a Bloomberg request for comment. “At this time, we remain focused on our existing markets, operations and projects."
The solar contract will set a record-low electricity purchase price for Türkiye, Bayraktar said, without elaborating. The current all-time low is $0.0325 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
Acwa, which is 44% owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), has expanded its solar generation capacity during the past year with projects in Malaysia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan. Its portfolio also includes a gas-fired plant in Türkiye.
The company operates in 14 countries with over 4,000 employees.
