Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power has been awarded contracts to develop and operate Morocco’s Noor Midelt II and III solar power plants.
The two projects, each with a 400 MW capacity, will feature integrated battery energy storage systems (BESS) offering a total storage capacity of 602 MWh, enabling up to 230 MW of discharge over a two-hour period.
The plants will be developed under a 30-year Build–Own–Operate agreement with the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN).
The announcement comes as Morocco moves to pivot from its earlier hybrid photovoltaic/concentrated solar power (PV-CSP) model for Midelt projects toward more cost-effective solutions, including solar PV and battery storage.
The original Midelt Phase I—awarded in 2019 to EDF Renewables, Masdar, and Green of Africa—has faced repeated delays, with construction yet to begin.
ACWA Power already operates seven power assets in Morocco, with 765 MW of installed capacity and a combined investment of SAR12 billion ($3.2 billion).
The company faced a setback in 2024 when a molten salt tank leak forced a shutdown at its 150 MW Noor III CSP plant in Ouarzazate, but operations resumed in April 2025, MASEN confirmed.
According to its Q2 2025 results, ACWA Power has 25 advanced-stage projects valued at $25.76 billion, with total contracted capacity reaching 22,008 MW of power and 1,824 m³/day of water desalination.
Its operational portfolio includes 34,429 MW of power and 6,194 m³/day of water capacity across 57 assets valued at $55.52 billion.
The company is also advancing its green hydrogen ambitions. The NEOM Green Hydrogen Project—slated for completion in Q4 2026—will produce 220,000 tonnes per annum. Additionally, ACWA has awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for its Yanbu Green Hydrogen Project, which will utilise 5 GW each of wind and solar to produce 400,000 tonnes of hydrogen annually for conversion into green ammonia.
In parallel, the firm has signed agreements with Germany’s SEFE to explore a hydrogen supply corridor to Europe and with Malaysia’s MIDA to develop 12.5 GW of green energy projects by 2040, with investments estimated at $10 billion.
ACWA Power’s gross power capacity now stands at 78.9 GW, with 9.5 million m³/day of desalination, 1.2 million tonnes per annum of green ammonia production, and 5.3 GWh of battery storage. Its total assets under management have reached SAR403 billion ($107.4 billion), reflecting the scale of its ambitions in shaping the global energy transition.
