Acwa Power Plans $30 Billion China Investment by 2030

Sail Al-Habti, global executive vice president and China chair of Saudi energy company Acwa Power, said on September 3 at the Saudi Capital Markets Forum's Shanghai session that the company plans to invest at least $30 billion in China by 2030. Al-Habti, a former deputy minister at Saudi Arabia's investment ministry, previously led business development and joint venture initiatives at Aramco Asia's China office. In the first half of 2026, China's installed renewable energy capacity reached 2.455 billion kilowatts, accounting for 60.7% of the country's total power capacity; wind and solar combined accounted for more than 48% of total installed capacity.

Al-Habti said Acwa aims to advance wind, storage, and pumped-storage projects in Yunnan, with a focus on natural gas power, concentrated solar power, pumped storage, and battery storage to support grid stability. He added that Acwa is working with Chinese chemical and energy firms to design a large green hydrogen project with twice the capacity and higher efficiency than the equipment already deployed at Saudi Arabia's NEOM. Acwa's operations now span 16 countries.

On supply chain cooperation, Al-Habti noted that over 99% of Acwa's renewable energy equipment is sourced from China, and about half of its 111 global projects involve Chinese companies. Since 2008, projects using Chinese contractors and core equipment have exceeded $50 billion, with more than 50% of EPC contracts awarded to Chinese firms. Chinese banks and financial institutions have provided over $12 billion in cumulative financing support to Acwa, including at least $1 billion added since 2026.

Al-Habti also mentioned that China's monthly electricity consumption surpassed 1 trillion kilowatt-hours for the first time in July 2025, and internet data service electricity consumption reached 59.3 billion kilowatt-hours in the first seven months of 2026, up 43.3% year on year. Additionally, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Saudi Exchange have strengthened their cooperation.