On April 19, 2026, heavy news was announced almost simultaneously in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - on one hand, ACWA Power signed a 11.5 billion riyal gas power plant purchase agreement, and on the other hand, China Power Construction officially disclosed details of a 13.962 billion yuan photovoltaic energy storage EPC contract. The dual engines of energy transformation in the Middle East exploded with the strongest sound on the same day.

Saudi Arabia bets on carbon capture gas turbines

ACWA Power and Saudi Energy Company jointly announced that they have officially signed a power purchase agreement with Saudi Electricity Procurement Company for the expansion project of Rabigh 2 independent power plant, with a total contract value of 11.5 billion Saudi riyals and a term of 31 years. The project adopts combined cycle gas turbine technology, with a total installed capacity of 2313.5 MW and reserved interfaces for carbon capture devices. Saudi Arabia has a clear goal: by 2030, 50% of its electricity structure will come from natural gas and 50% from renewable energy. The combination of CCGT and CCS reserved is the strongest footnote to its "pragmatic bottom line" route.

UAE defines all-weather clean electricity

Just four days ago on April 15, 2026, China Power Construction announced that its consortium had signed an EPC contract for the RTC solar storage project with Masdar, a future energy company in Abu Dhabi, for an amount equivalent to approximately 13.962 billion yuan. The project includes 2.1 gigawatts of photovoltaic and 7.75 gigawatt hours of energy storage, with a construction period of 21 months after the commencement order. Jingke Energy has simultaneously signed a 2 GW high-efficiency component supply agreement, with Ningde Times exclusively supplying energy storage systems. The large-scale configuration of photovoltaic and energy storage is transforming intermittent green electricity into dispatchable base load energy.

Chinese enterprises fully embedded in the Gulf Chess Game chain

In the RTC project in the United Arab Emirates, Chinese companies have achieved full coverage from components, energy storage to EPC general contracting for the first time. In the Saudi Arabian battlefield, China Electric Power Construction Corporation, Harbin Electric Power Group, and others have been deeply involved in the construction of multiple gas combined cycle power plants such as Jaffa, Rumah, and Nairya. From selling equipment to contracting projects, from supporting role to managers, the position of Chinese energy enterprises in the Gulf value chain is moving up systematically. When Saudi Arabia uses natural gas to support the power grid and the United Arab Emirates defines the future with solar energy storage, the engineering and equipment capabilities of Chinese enterprises are becoming the common cornerstone of the two tracks.Editor/Gao Xue