Eversheds Sutherland advises Saudi Power Procurement company

Eversheds Sutherland and AlDhabaan & Partners in association with Eversheds Sutherland advised the Ministry of Energy (“MoEnergy”) and Saudi Power Procurement Company (“SPPC”), as senior procurers, to a consortium comprising of ACWA Power, PIF Subsidiary “Badeel”, and Aramco Subsidiary “SAPCO”, on the financing and development of the Al Shuaibah 1 and Al Shuaibah 2 solar photovoltaic power plants. These plants will generate an aggregate capacity over 2,061 MW of clean electricity for Saudi Arabia, and is considered to be the world’s largest solar project. 

The financial close for the project is a key achievement in the National Renewable Energy Program (“NREP”) which is led and supervised by the Ministry of Energy and is a key achievement towards PIF’s commitment to develop 70% of Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy target capacity by 2030.

Saudi Power Procurement Company is the procurer and the off-taker for the projects, while the new projects will be jointly owned by Badeel (34.99%), ACWA Power (35.01%), and SAPCO (30%). 

The plant is expected to be operational by 2025.

The Eversheds Sutherland team was led by Partner & Head of Projects – Middle East, Ashley Halewood, with support from Senior Associate Adite Aloke, along with Partners Abdulatif AlHerish and Mohammed AlAhmad, and Associates Abdulrahman Alrashid and Saed Obediat of AlDhabaan & Partners in association with Eversheds Sutherland.