ACWA Power mulls hydrogen business expansion; eyes $10 bln finance p.a. for projects: CEO

Paddy Padmanathan, CEO of ACWA Power

ACWA Power Co. plans to expand its hydrogen business in two other countries, Al Arabiya TV reported, citing CEO Paddy Padmanathan.

He added that such projects are of the same size as NEOM Green Hydrogen project. “It will be a giant project. Every project we are working on has the same size, which is 240,000 tons of green hydrogen," Padmanathan noted.

The best source of energy is converting hydrogen into liquid ammonia. Therefore, the project ACWA Power is currently aspiring to is similar in nature and size to NEOM project, the CEO said.

He expects the second, third and fourth projects to be launched gradually in 2027 and 2028, noting that the projects’ outcomes will likely appear in 2028.

“ACWA Power has a lot of growth opportunities,” the top executive said.

When asked about the finance of such projects, Padmanathan said the company has currently strong financing sources represented in credit lines and funds available to invest in projects over the coming years.

“What should be considered in this process is that 20% of such finance should be in the form of shares, while the remaining percentage is debt. Thus, 80% of projects will be financed through debt. Accordingly, there is always a great need to borrow,” the CEO said.

The financing of the green hydrogen project, for example, exceeds $5 billion, Padmanathan elaborated, noting that every project carried out by ACWA Power needs billions of dollars in financing.

“We need nearly $10 billion loans every year. Thus, such projects need huge funding," the CEO said.

Replying to a question about higher interest rates, he said, “favorable factors for ACWA Power result from debt restructuring. When we finalize a project’s details, we develop a long-term financing plan usually for 20 years. Therefore, we preset the interest over the loan term.”

“Accordingly, we are not affected by interest rates for the projects that have already started. For new projects, we will secure loans at higher interest. At this point, we may reflect this hike in projects’ fees, which will eventually reflect inflation. Overall, our projects are insulated against a hike in policy rates, as we set rates at the beginning of every project,” Padmanathan explained.

Speaking of NEOM, the CEO said that NEOM is highly unique. I expect it to attract more hydrogen projects, when it starts to convert green hydrogen to liquid ammonia in 2026. “We are committed to this date,” he affirmed.

In March, the Saudi utility signed a limited notice to proceed (LNTP) agreement for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the NEOM Green Hydrogen Project, at a total value of $900 million, Argaam reported.