Red Sea Global Hotels & Airport Now Fully Powered by Renewables

Red Sea Global’s hotels and related facilities, including Red Sea International Airport, are now fully powered by renewable energy following the start of commercial operations at an off-grid utilities platform developed by Acwa on Saudi Arabia’s west coast.

The platform supplies electricity, potable water, wastewater treatment, district cooling and waste management across the destination under a 25-year concession valued at USD 1.8 billion.

An Acwa-led consortium secured the contract in November 2020, alongside China’s SPIC Huanghe Hydropower and Saudi Tabreed. Financial close was reached in February 2022 with USD 1.33 billion in senior debt facilities from Saudi and international banks, while China’s Shandong Tiejun served as engineering, procurement and construction contractor. Acwa will operate and maintain the infrastructure throughout the concession period.

Electricity is generated by a 340 MW solar photovoltaic plant supported by a 1,227 MWh battery energy storage system. The system can deliver up to 760,000 MWh of clean energy annually, which Acwa estimates will avoid around 600,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

The wider utilities network includes three seawater reverse osmosis plants, a waste management centre and a sewage treatment plant capable of processing 16,000 cubic metres per day. District cooling capacity totals 32,500 refrigeration tonnes and serves hotels as well as the airport.