CFO’s message

“A financial close is a defining moment in a project's development. We are very proud of another remarkable year, during which we achieved nine financial closes with a total investment cost of 1 34.6 billion, resulting in increasing our fleet by 21 projects with a total investment value of 1 95 billion in just two years. This comes hand‑in‑hand with 20 units moving into operation.”

ACWA Power recorded a year of unprecedented expansion in 2024, adding 14.3 GW of new power capacity, including 10.7 GW in renewables, and 0.4 million m³/day of desalinated water, and signing seven new Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), one new Water Purchase Agreement (WPA), one PPA extension and one WPA extension. These additions expanded our leadership in sustainable infrastructure. Our equity commitments reached 1 7.4 billion, supporting the rapid scale‑up of project execution and delivery, aligning with our ambitious goal of having USD 250 billion of assets under management by 2030.

ACWA Power recorded a year of unprecedented expansion in 2024, adding 14.3 GW of new power capacity, including 10.7 GW in renewables, and 0.4 million m³/day of desalinated water, and signing seven new Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), one new Water Purchase Agreement (WPA), one PPA extension and one WPA extension. These additions expanded our leadership in sustainable infrastructure. Our equity commitments reached 1 7.4 billion, supporting the rapid scale‑up of project execution and delivery, aligning with our ambitious goal of having USD 250 billion of assets under management by 2030.

We brought online 3.8 GW of new power and 76,000 m³/day of desalinated water capacity, advancing our total operational portfolio size to 34 GW of power and 5.6 million m³/day of water. Notable achievements included the full project commercial operation of the 1,500 MW Sudair Solar PV IPP, our first project under the PIF partnership programme, supplying clean energy to 185,000 homes while offsetting 2.5 million tons of CO₂ emissions annually. Additionally, we increased our international footprint, notably with our first projects in China for approximately 1.1 GW of renewable energy capacity that will gradually be added to our portfolio in 2025. These achievements reflect our commitment to sustainable growth, energy transition, and expanding our global presence while delivering reliable power and water solutions.

Our strong operational performance reinforces this progress, with power and water availability standing at 93.3% and 97.6% (up from 91.9% and 96.4% in 2023) respectively. This highlights our operational resilience and commitment to efficiency gains. Our NOMAC team played a crucial role in maintaining the reliability of our assets, ensuring seamless operation and high performance across all facilities. This is despite the challenge we faced due to an extended outage at one of our CSP units and it serves as a testament to the benefit of our portfolio diversity.

Resilient, robust profitability amid unprecedented growth

Net profit attributable to equity holders of the parent increased by 5.7% to 1 1,757 million, demonstrating our ability to generate value while maintaining financial prudence. Effective and efficient cash management across the Group has effectively counterbalanced the impact of flat operating income before impairment losses and other expenses (1 2,983 million), which was affected by lower development business and construction management fees and development cost provisions as well as higher General and Administrative (G&A) expenses.

It is worth noting that the increase in G&A expenses is largely driven by our front‑loaded investment in people, enabling us to build the strong and sustainable workforce that will carry ACWA Power to 2030 and beyond. At the same time this year we have embarked upon a cost optimisation exercise while closely monitoring cost base across the Group.

On the other hand, Parent Operating Cash Flow (POCF) rose by 15.9% to 1 2,842 million, supported by increased inflows, mainly due to the proceeds from the partial divestment of RAWEC as part of our continuous capital recycling programme.

Parent net leverage stood at 1 18.1 billion as of 31 December 2024. This resulted in a parent net leverage to POCF ratio of 6.36x, in line with our short‑term guidance of up to 7x but moderately higher than our long‑term comfort band of up to 6x. The upcoming 1 7.1 billion capital raise in 2025 will certainly bring our leverage ratio to lower levels and open up further headroom for additional leverage in support of our growth plan.

A busy and productive year for ACWA Power's financing

We completed nine financial closes totalling 1 34.6 billion, structuring complex multi‑tranche financing packages from a diversified pool of global and regional financial institutions, including Export Credit Agencies and Development Financial Institutions.

We managed our debt obligations successfully while maintaining financial flexibility to support our expansion initiatives. During the year, we instituted new relationships including two new equity partners, seven new financial institutions , two new insurance brokers, and two additional equity research analysts, which will help increase our financial footprint and support future access to capital markets.

Moody’s has affirmed the Baa3 credit rating with Stable outlook for our 100% owned subsidiary, APMI One, which is the issuer of the ACWA39 bonds that are listed on the Irish Stock Exchange. APMI One is rated BBB‑ with Stable outlook from Fitch.

In December, 2024, we submitted our first submission documents to the regulatory authority, the Capital Market Authority (CMA), for the 1 7.1 billion capital raise via a 100% preemptive rights issue. As is the practice in the market, the Company and the CMA have been working on the regulator’s queries on the first filing since then, and the Company now expects the transaction to take place in the second quarter of 2025.

Distributions

On 28 February 2024, the Board of Directors recommended a cash distribution of 1 0.45 per share and a non‑cash bonus of 1 share for every 500 shares owned for the year 2023. This hybrid approach aimed to optimise cash utilisation for growth while adhering to the IPO guideline of a 6–9% annual distribution growth rate from 2021 to 2023. Total cash distributed between 2021 and 2023 thus amounted to 1 1.5 billion.

Finance awards

ACWA Power received several prestigious awards, recognising our excellence across various spheres. These included Best Capital Financing at the PIF Partner’s Forum Awards, Energy Transition Deal of the Year (MENA) for the NEOM Green Hydrogen Company at the IJ Global Awards, and Global Green Deal of the Year at the PFI Awards. We were also honoured with the ARC International Silver Award, MEIRA IR Awards, and Corporate & Financial Awards for our 2023 Integrated Annual Report.

Looking ahead

ACWA Power is poised for continued growth. With a rich, new and existing project development pipeline, a disciplined financial approach, and an expanding global footprint, we remain confident in our ability to achieve our long‑term strategic and financial objectives. We are well‑positioned to capitalise on opportunities in energy transition, particularly in emerging markets, where demand for clean energy and water is rapidly growing, and our focus on innovation, sustainability, and operational excellence will continue to drive sustainable value creation for all our stakeholders.

With our strategic roadmap in place for all critical elements of our growth plan, including business opportunities, human resources and financial health, we are well‑prepared to embrace new challenges and opportunities; and confident that ACWA Power will continue to deliver sustainable growth and value.