ACWA Power Company said it has commenced commercial operations at the 700-megawatt (MW) Ar Rass 1 solar photovoltaic independent power plant (IPP) in Saudi Arabia.

Ar Rass Solar Energy Company, owned 40% by ACWA Power, received the commercial operations certificate on August 15, the company said in a statement to the Saudi stock exchange on Sunday. 
  
The company expected the financial impact to be reflected from the second quarter of 2024.

In March 2022, ACWA Power signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Saudi Power Procurement Company for the project. 

The project, valued at 1.7 billion riyals ($453 million), was awarded to a consortium led by ACWA Power. 

Other members of the consortium are China's SPIC (Huanghe Hydropower Development Co. Ltd.) and Water and Electricity Holding Company (Badeel), which is wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund.

The project is part of round three of the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) by the Saudi Ministry of Energy. 

ACWA had submitted the lowest bid of 5.62 halala/KWh.

(Editing by Anoop Menon) (anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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