Saudi Arabia just rolled out a renewable energy mega-move that reads less like a project list and more like a continent’s worth of clean power stitched together. A trio of heavyweight players — ACWA Power, the Public Investment Fund’s Badeel, and Aramco’s SAPCO — has locked in $8.2 billion to bring seven massive clean-energy sites to life, totalling an eye-opening 15 gigawatts.
This cluster of solar and wind builds is the crown jewel of the Kingdom’s National Renewable Energy Programme — the largest portfolio ever cleared under the initiative. If all goes to plan, turbines spin and solar fields hum to life between late 2027 and mid-2028.
Five of the sites will be oceans of photovoltaic panels:
• Bisha (3GW) rising out of Asir
• Humaij (3GW) brightening Madinah
• Khulis (2GW) anchoring Makkah’s clean-power push
• Afif 1 (2GW) and Afif 2 (2GW) lighting up Riyadh Province
Wind joins the party too, with the 2GW Starah and 1GW Shaqra projects — the first time ACWA Power spins turbines on Saudi soil. The Saudi Power Procurement Company signed on as offtaker for the entire bundle.
Financing muscle came from a long roster of banks stretching from the Gulf to Europe to East Asia, pooling $5.9 billion in senior debt alone. The overall spend clocks in at $8.2 billion, signalling the Kingdom’s confidence in its clean-energy trajectory.
PIF, through Badeel, is steering 70% of Saudi Arabia’s 2030 renewable capacity target — and with this new batch, its pipeline now hits 28.6GW and more than $17 billion spread across marquee projects from Haden to Sudair to Saad 2.
ACWA Power’s home-turf green fleet now grows to 21 projects surpassing 34GW, pushing its global renewable footprint to nearly 52GW.
And the buildout power? Much of it flows from China. EPC giants have scooped up major slices of the 15GW package:
• Goldwind will deliver and maintain turbines for the 3GW PIF5 Wind Power Project, covering Shaqra and Starah, through an EPC team led by CEEC Global and its partners — the same group also taking on the 2GW Khulis solar plant. Their combined EPC tally: about $2.74 billion.
• Afif 1 and Afif 2 will rise under a trio of Chinese engineering powerhouses, with contracts reaching roughly $1.65 billion.
Seven projects, three corporate anchors, hundreds of turbines, and tens of millions of panels — Saudi Arabia isn’t easing into renewables. It’s flooring the accelerator.
