UAE’s Al-Ajban solar project gets bids from 4 developers, including ACWA Power
UAE’s Al-Ajban solar project gets bids from 4 developers, including ACWA Power /node/2335761/business-economy
UAE’s Al-Ajban solar project gets bids from 4 developers, including ACWA Power
Al-Ajban Solar PV, EWEC’s third solar power project, will be operational in 2026 and is anticipated to reduce Abu Dhabi’s carbon dioxide emission by up to 2.4 million metric tons annually. (Shutterstock)
UAE’s Al-Ajban solar project gets bids from 4 developers, including ACWA Power
Updated 11 July 2023
ARAB NEWS
RIYADH: Abu Dhabi’s upcoming 1.5 gigawatts Al-Ajban solar photovoltaic power project received bids from four major utility developers, including Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, announced Emirates Water and Electricity Co. on Tuesday.
According to a company press release, the other three bids were from French firm EDF Renewables, Japan’s Marubeni Corp. and a consortium of China’s Jinko Power and Thailand’s Jera.
Al-Ajban Solar PV, EWEC’s third solar power project, will be operational in 2026 and is anticipated to reduce Abu Dhabi’s carbon dioxide emission by up to 2.4 million metric tons annually.
The project aims to achieve its strategic goals, which include increasing Abu Dhabi’s solar power generation capacity to 7.3 GW by 2030 and meeting 60 percent of the emirate’s total energy demand through clean energy sources by 2035.
“Al-Ajban Solar PV demonstrates EWEC’s accumulative expertise in commissioning and deploying world-leading innovative, emission-free utility projects to secure and dispatch sustainable and reliable power supply across the UAE,” said EWEC CEO Othman Al Ali in the press statement.
He added: “EWEC’s renewable energy projects are further strengthening the UAE’s position as a global leader and role model in planning and implementing tangible strategic actions to realize long-term socio-economic and sustainability objectives.”
Additionally, the project will increase EWEC’s overall solar power capacity to about 4 GW.
The Abu Dhabi-based utility major stated that the proposals will undergo a detailed technical and commercial evaluation procedure.
In addition to strengthening the UAE’s position as a global hub in addressing critical climate change challenges, the company’s renewable energy plants will enforce international standards for utility-scale renewable energy projects.
In March, EWEC recommended a 606 percent rise in its solar power generation capacity by 2030 in line with the UAE’s aim to achieve net zero by 2050.
The company plans to increase its solar power generation capacity to 7.3 GW and develop 300 MW of battery energy storage systems.
Moreover, it forecast the requirement for an additional 3 GW of solar power capacity by 2029 on top of the 1.5 GW procured from the Al-Ajban Solar PV Project once it becomes operational in 2026.
Trump: India has offered US a trade deal with zero tariffs
Updated 12 sec ago
Reuters
RIYADH: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday in Doha that India had offered the US a trade deal with zero tariffs.
New Delhi is seeking to clinch a trade deal with the US within the 90-day pause on tariff hikes announced by Trump on April 9 for major trading partners, which had included a 26 percent tariff on India.
MP Materials, Ma’aden to jointly develop rare earths supply chain in Saudi
Updated 26 min 28 sec ago
Reuters
LONDON: US rare earths miner MP Materials has signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia’s flagship mining company Ma’aden to jointly develop a rare earth supply chain in the Middle Eastern country.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the US-Saudi Investment Forum, where President Donald Trump secured a $600 billion investment from the Kingdom covering the energy, defense and mining sectors.
Saudi Arabia has been pushing to become a global critical minerals hub at a time when minerals processing is fast becoming a necessity for tech-focused economies looking to produce their own building blocks for AI, electric vehicles and other sectors.
Last month, Reuters reported Ma’aden was weighing a rare-earths partnership with at least one of four foreign firms, including MP Materials, China’s Shenghe Resources, Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths or Canada’s Neo Performance Materials.
The partnership between MP Materials and Ma’aden would include mining, separation, refining and magnet production of rare earth minerals.
“Today’s announcement is an important first step toward rebalancing the global supply chain ... especially in robotics and physical AI — while deepening the strategic alliance between the United States and Saudi Arabia,” said MP Materials CEO James Litinsky.
Ma’aden’s CEO Bob Wilt said the partnership was an integral step toward establishing mining as “the third pillar” of the Saudi economy.
Shares of MP Materials rose nearly 5 percent before the bell.
Syria’s finance minister says foreign investors welcome after US sanctions move
Syria ‘land of opportunities’ for investors, Barnieh says
Sectors include farming, oil, tourism, roads, ports, he says
Private sector to have central role in new Syrian state, he says
Barnieh says sanctions removal is just first step in Syria’s recovery
Updated 40 min 21 sec ago
Reuters
DAMASCUS: Syrian Finance Minister Yisr Barnieh made a call to global investors on Wednesday to come do business with Syria after US President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement that he would lift all of Washington’s sanctions on the country.
“Syria today is a land of opportunities, with immense potential across every sector — from agriculture to oil, tourism, infrastructure, and transportation,” Barnieh said in an interview with Reuters at the Finance Ministry in Damascus.
“We envision a central role for the private sector in the new Syrian economy. The finance ministry’s role is not to spend indiscriminately or act as a regulatory enforcer over businesses, but rather to enable and support growth.”
A wall outside his office still bore the discolored outline of one of the many posters of former strongman Bashar Assad that used to hang in Syria’s public buildings before his ousting by Islamist rebels Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham last year.
Changes in Syria have been swift since Assad fled to Russia in December of last year.
Former rebel commander Ahmed Sharaa was appointed president, formed a government and had quick success garnering Gulf Arab support and getting most European sanctions lifted.
The stunning turn of events was capped by a meeting between Sharaa and Trump in Riyadh on Wednesday after Trump’s pledge to cease US sanctions imposed on Syria under Assad-family rule, measures widely seen as the biggest external obstacles to the country’s economic recovery.
Trump has not set out a timeline for removal.
“One of the most critical outcomes of lifting sanctions would be Syria’s reintegration into the global financial system,” Barnieh said.
“This would allow us to restore financial flows and attract investments, which are urgently needed across all sectors,” he said, adding that Syrian authorities have already seen strong interest from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, and several EU countries, among others.
He noted that the government is undertaking a comprehensive overhaul of public financial management, including reforms to the tax system, customs, and banking — part of a broader effort to modernize an economy long burdened by an oversized public sector.
He also struck a cautioning tone, saying that the removal of sanctions would be just the first step in a years-long recovery for a country ruined by 14 years of war.
“The lifting of sanctions is not the final chapter,” he said.
“We cannot afford to become complacent. We are entering a new phase that demands real results and visible progress on the ground.”
Oil Updates — crude slides 3 percent on expectations for US-Iran nuclear deal
Updated 58 min 36 sec ago
Reuters
TOKYO: Oil prices fell by about $2 on Thursday on expectations of a potential US-Iran nuclear deal that could result in sanctions easing, while a surprise build in US crude oil inventories last week heightened investor concerns about oversupply.
Brent crude futures fell $2.16, or 3.3 percent, to $63.93 a barrel by 9:57 a.m. Saudi time. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures slid $2.10, or 3.3 percent, to $61.05.
Both benchmarks lost about 0.8 percent on Wednesday.
Iran is willing to agree to a deal with the US in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions, an Iranian official told NBC News in an interview published on Wednesday.
“Fresh selling was triggered by expectations that a US-Iran nuclear deal would ease recently tightened US sanctions on Iran, potentially loosening the global crude supply-demand balance,” said Yuki Takashima, economist at Nomura Securities.
Saudi Arabia fully supports the US-Iran nuclear talks and hopes for positive results, the kingdom’s foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud said on Wednesday.
Washington issued sanctions on Wednesday to target Iranian efforts to domestically manufacture components for ballistic missiles, the US Treasury Department said, following Tuesday’s sanctions on some 20 companies in a network that it said has long sent Iranian oil to China.
The sanctions came following a fourth round of US-Iran talks in Oman aimed at addressing disputes over Iran’s nuclear program.
The surprise rise in US inventories overnight is also weighing on prices as is profit taking after crude oil rebounded toward the top of its recent $55-$65 per barrel range, said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG.
“My forecast is we continue to see a range bound market for the next month or so, however barring an unexpected geopolitical shock, when the range does give way it will be to the downside, toward $50 per barrel,” he said.
Data from the Energy Information Administration showed crude stockpiles rose by 3.5 million barrels to 441.8 million barrels in the week ended May 9, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.1 million-barrel draw.
API industry data also showed a large build of 4.3 million barrels in crude stocks last week, market sources said on Tuesday.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers, known as OPEC+, has been increasing supply, although OPEC on Wednesday trimmed its forecast for growth in oil supply from the US and other producers outside the wider OPEC+ group this year.
Saudi-US business ties grow through deeper partnerships
Top US executives highlight Saudi Arabia’s rise as a hub for high-tech, manufacturing, and infrastructure investment
Updated 15 May 2025
Nadin Hassan
RIYADH: Mutual investments between Saudi Arabia and the US are expanding in key sectors as industry leaders from both countries eye deeper partnerships and co-development opportunities.
Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Saudi-US Investment Forum, held during US President Donald Trump’s state visit to the Kingdom on Tuesday, Joseph Rank, vice president and CEO of Lockheed Martin for Saudi Arabia and Africa, said that enhanced partnerships are paving the way for two-way investments.
“This is an opportunity to really enhance our partnership and grow business. There’s actually almost too many to talk about. But the real key is growing our partnership, which then leads to investment on both sides,” Rank said.
Joseph Rank, vice president and CEO of Lockheed Martin for Saudi Arabia and Africa. (AN photo)
Lockheed Martin’s role in the Kingdom is shifting from traditional collaboration to advanced manufacturing and technology sharing, Rank said.
“We used to build things here. Now we’re actually manufacturing things here. So the big opportunity is manufacturing, co-production, co-development and transfer of technology,” he said.
“This is jobs for Lockheed Martin in the US and jobs for Saudi industry here. A win-win-win.”
Marc Winterhoff, interim CEO of electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Group Inc., stressed the importance of Saudi Arabia as a manufacturing base, with its King Abdullah Economic City facility expected to reach a 150,000-unit capacity.
Marc Winterhoff, interim CEO of electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Group Inc., is pictured at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday. (AN photo)
“We have very, very close ties to Saudi Arabia, both from an investment point of view, but also we’re building a big plant in KAEC here,” he said, adding that 65 percent of the workforce is currently made up of Saudi citizens.
“There’s a lot of investment going into this plant to build vehicles for the local market, but then also for exports.”
Winterhoff said Lucid is also working with Saudi research institutions, including King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, to co-develop advanced technologies like artificial intelligence models, autonomous driving, and crash simulation.
Sadek Wahba, chairman and managing partner of I Squared Capital, echoed the sentiment, describing the forum as a reflection of enduring US-Saudi economic cooperation and the role infrastructure will play in future development.
Sadek Wahba, chairman and managing partner of I Squared Capital is pictured at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday. (AN photo)
“The event represents the best of what you can find in Saudi in the cooperation that can exist between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
“Cooperation that already exists for the last decades, and I think will continue to flourish over the coming period,” Wahba said.
He said the company sees significant opportunity in Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure sector, particularly in telecoms, digital infrastructure, transport and logistics.
IN NUMBERS
• $1billion+ Planned investment by I Squared Capital, with backing from the Saudi PIF and others. • 65% Of Lucid’s workforce in the Kingdom is made up of Saudi citizens.
The biggest investment opportunities are in transport and logistics, he said, citing the growing needs of a rapidly developing economy.
Wahba also announced a memorandum of understanding with the Public Investment Fund to establish a Middle East infrastructure fund focused mainly on Saudi Arabia.
“I Squared Capital is looking to invest over $1 billion over the coming years, and PIF and others will be contributing to that effort,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kathy Warden, president and CEO of Northrop Grumman Corp., emphasized the company’s longstanding partnership with the Kingdom and its commitment to investing in defense and local talent.
Kathy Warden, president and CEO of Northrop Grumman Corp., is pictured at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday. (AN photo)
Warden said that the company signed a memorandum of intent with the Saudi government’s General Authority of Military Industries to procure capabilities from Northrop Grumman, which total nearly $14 billion.
The US company is also partnering locally with Saudi Arabian Military Industries to deliver its capabilities.
“These investments will contribute to the security and safety of the Kingdom and also create local jobs that are high-skilled engineering jobs,” she added.
From a technology perspective, Chris Rouland, founder and CEO of Phosphorus Cybersecurity Inc., emphasized the need to secure AI and data-driven systems as Saudi Arabia ramps up its digital transformation.
Chris Rouland, founder and CEO of Phosphorus xIOT Cybersecurity Inc., is pictured at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday. (AN photo)
“I think one thing that was overlooked in today’s conversations was the importance of security in artificial intelligence,” Rouland said. “Just as security and safety has made the Kingdom such a great place to do business, security and privacy are very important for AI and data centers.”
He said that the company is exploring a joint venture in Saudi Arabia aimed at securing Internet of Things infrastructure and AI systems to prevent exploitation by cybercriminals.
The forum underscored the Kingdom’s growing role as a magnet for American industry leaders seeking to invest in sectors aligned with Vision 2030 — from defense and infrastructure to advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity — reinforcing Saudi-US economic ties built on shared long-term objectives.
