Riyadh – Mubasher: ACWA Power Company signed a power purchase agreement for South Africa's largest hybrid dispatchable renewable energy project, according to a press release.

ACWA Power Project DAO is a 150 megawatts (MW) dispatchable renewable hybrid plant, which was declared as one of the preferred bidders in the Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement Programme in 2021.

Located in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, the plant will be equipped with the largest solar photovoltaics (PV) installation in the country of 442 MW.

The facility will hold a capacity of about 1,200 megawatt-hours (MWh) of battery storage, which will be one of the largest in the world.

With a total cost of nearly $800 million, Project DAO is expected to commence operating by the second quarter (Q2) of 2026.  

Marco Arcelli, CEO of ACWA Power, said: “Project DAO is set to be yet another ACWA Power flagship project in South Africa, following the success of the Bokpoort and Redstone CSP projects, in offering clean energy to the country and significant socio-economic value to its surrounding communities.”

The project will deliver efficient clean energy to the national grid in addition to bolstering the socio-economic framework in South Africa by offering job opportunities and utilising local supply chains.

It is expected to reach around 50% local content in procurement during the construction period and create over 1,000 construction jobs at peak, with about 25% from the local community.

Last November, ACWA Power began the commercial operation process of the Hassyan Energy project.

In the first nine months (9M) of 2023, the listed company logged 22.49% higher net profits after Zakat and tax at SAR 1.08 billion, compared to SAR 883.42 million in 9M-22.