Southern Power Grid enters Central Asia's largest wind power project under construction. The combined installed capacity of the Bash and Zankeldi wind farm projects amounted to 1 GW, with an investment cost of more than $1.3 billion
July 17, Saudi Arabia International Electricity and Water Company (ACWA Power) and Southern Power Grid has announced that on July 16, Uzbekistan local time, Southern Power Grid International (Hong Kong) Limited completed the acquisition of 35% of the equity of two wholly-owned subsidiaries of ACWA Power.
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The two subsidiaries are Bash Wind Power Holding Co., Ltd. and Zankeldi Wind Power Holding Co., Ltd., each holding 100% equity in the Bash and Zankeldi wind power project companies.
Southern Power Grid International (Hong Kong) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Power Grid. Through the acquisition, Southern Power Grid owns part of the Bash and Zankeldi wind farms and the 500kV auxiliary transmission project in Uzbekistan.
According to the Saudi Stock Exchange, the value of the transaction between ACWA Power and Southern Power Grid is SAR 595.9 million (about RMB 1.15 billion).
Bash and Zankeldi wind farms each have an installed capacity of 500 MW, with a combined installed capacity of 1 GW and an investment cost of more than $1.3 billion (about RMB 9.44 billion). They are the largest installed wind power projects under construction in Central Asia and are expected to be completed and commissioned in 2025, according to Southern Power Grid.
The Bash and Zankeldi wind power projects are located in the northeast and northwest of Bukhara region in Uzbekistan, respectively, and are being built by China Energy Construction (601868.SH). The project mainly includes 158 sets of 6.5 MW wind turbines, two 33kv/500kv booster stations and two 500kv overhead lines with a total length of about 290.5 kilometers.
In March 2023, the project officially started. In April this year, the 79th wind turbine foundation casting was completed ahead of schedule, marking the completion of the entire wind turbine foundation casting for the Bash Wind Farm.
ACWA Power is a publicly listed company in Saudi Arabia and a global developer, investor, and operator of power and desalinated water plants, with 90 plants in operation, under construction, or under development in 13 countries. ACWA Power's portfolio is valued at $94 billion and generates 65.6 gigawatts of electricity and produces 8 million cubic meters per day of desalinated water, according to official information.
Southern Power Grid is a centrally managed Chinese state-owned enterprise, ranked 83rd among Fortune 500 companies in 2023 with revenues of 842.6 billion yuan. The company's operations cover five provinces and districts in the southern region and are connected to power grids in China's Hong Kong and Macau regions and Southeast Asian countries, supplying power to an area of 1 million square kilometers and a population of 272 million.
ACWA Power said the transaction is the first joint investment between ACWA Power and China Southern Power Grid for a large-scale renewable energy project in Central Asia since the signing of a framework agreement between the two parties in December 2022.
As a power grid company, Southern Power Grid's previous overseas investments were mainly in power transmission and distribution. This year, for example, Southern Power Grid completed its investment in 83.15 percent of Peru Power Distribution and 100 percent of X Peru.
In March 2018, Southern Grid received approval to acquire Chile's largest transmission company from Canadian asset management firm Brookfield for $1.3 billion.
In addition to investment in renewable energy in Central Asia driven by the Belt and Road policy, Chinese companies have strengthened their cooperation with ACWA Power and opened up new opportunities to go abroad.
On July 16, three new energy companies, JinkoSolar (688223.SH), TCL Zhonghuan (002129.SZ) and Envision Technology Group (hereafter referred to as Envision Group), respectively announced that they would cooperate with the Saudi Public Investment Fund's (PIF) wholly owned subsidiary. The company is collaborating with Renewable Energy Localization Company (hereafter referred to as RELC) and Vision Industries Company (hereafter referred to as VI) to invest and establish factories in Saudi Arabia.
JinkoSolar Middle East DMCC (hereafter JinkoSolar Middle East), a wholly owned subsidiary of JinkoSolar, has signed a shareholders' agreement with RELC and VI and plans to establish a joint venture in Saudi Arabia to build a 10 GW high-efficiency battery and component project, with a total investment of about 3.693 billion Saudi Arabian Yare (about 7.157 billion yuan).
Products include high-efficiency batteries and modules, photovoltaic crystal wafers, wind turbines, and key components.
On the same day, Sunny Power (300274.SZ) announced that it had successfully signed the world's largest energy storage project with Saudi Arabia's ALGIHAZ, with a capacity of 7.8 GWh.
In March this year, LONGi Hydrogen, a subsidiary of LONGi Green Energy (601012.SH), signed a contract with ACWA Power for the first phase of a 3,000-ton per year green hydrogen project in Uzbekistan. According to the contract, LONGi Hydrogen will provide ALK electrolyzer and a full set of auxiliary systems.
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