The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC), the developer behind the world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism project, has finalized its utilities deal with a consortium led by ACWA Power for The Red Sea Project (TRSP) to design, build, operate and transfer The Red Sea Project’s utilities infrastructure.
The Red Sea Project will be the largest tourism project in the world to be powered solely by renewable energy.
The consortium led by ACWA Power has secured its financing to design, build, and operate TRSP’s utilities infrastructure for 25 years, after which the operations are to be transferred back to TRSDC.
The contract includes providing 100 percent renewable power, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The consortium will also provide potable water, wastewater treatment, solid waste management, district cooling, telecommunication and data services across the destination spanning an area the size of Belgium.
“Today, our determination to show the world that tourism development can be done in a regenerative way reaches a new stage. By choosing not to connect to the national grid and create our own supply of energy, we are guaranteeing that The Red Sea Project will be a self-sustaining, 100 percent renewable tourism destination,” said John Pagano, CEO of TRSDC.
The consortium led by ACWA Power is made up of both local and international investors. It will be financed by Saudi and international banks, including the UK’s Standard Chartered Bank and China’s Silk Road Fund.
Initial assets will be delivered by December 2022 with the balance coming online throughout 2023, delivering a total generating capacity circa 407 MWp of Solar PV power for Phase 1.
By completion, the destination will have the infrastructure in place to generate up to up to 760,000 MWh of renewable energy per year.
The power generation assets will also include the world’s largest battery storage facility of 1000 MWh, allowing the destination to remain powered by renewables day and night.
This will create a saving of at least half a million tons of CO2 each year that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere. That’s the equivalent to emissions from around 99,000 cars or 78,000 homes.
