Recently, Prolos China and Saudi Arabia's international power and water company ACWA Power announced a strategic partnership to explore new energy investment opportunities in the Chinese market, with a focus on centralized wind power, photovoltaics, and energy storage. This is not a simple handshake - behind it is another signal of systematic entry of Middle Eastern capital into China's new energy market, and also the landing of the joint venture model of foreign investment and local output.

Who is ACWA? Middle East Energy National Team

ACWA Power was founded in 2004, headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange. It has a close relationship with Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, and became its largest shareholder with a 44.16% stake after going public in 2021. As of the end of 2024, ACWA Power has 94 assets worldwide with a total investment of $97 billion, covering 69.2 gigawatts of installed power capacity, 5.3 gigawatt hours of battery energy storage systems, and 8.1 million cubic meters of daily desalinated water production capacity. As early as 2009, ACWA Power established a China office in Beijing. In January 2025, it signed investment agreements for projects exceeding 1 gigawatt in multiple provinces and regions of China. ACWA Power's founder and chairman, Mohammad Abunaan, has previously stated plans to invest $30 billion in China by 2030, focusing on three major areas: power facilities, seawater desalination, and green hydrogen, green ammonia, and green methanol projects. It should be clarified that the $30 billion is its previously announced cumulative investment plan in China, not the newly signed funding scale with Prolos in this cooperation.

Prolos holds 1.3 gigawatts of new energy assets

As a partner, Prolos' core values lie in local industrial customer resources, data center needs, and local execution capabilities. Zhao Mingqi, CEO of Prologis China, stated that Prologis will combine its deep cultivation of industrial customers and data center needs in the Chinese market, as well as its excellent local execution capabilities, with ACWA Power's global experience and capital advantages. Prolos has been laying out its new energy business since 2018, and as of December 2025, it has managed and operated 1.3 GW of new energy assets in China, covering distributed and centralized photovoltaic, wind energy, and energy storage facilities, with comprehensive capabilities throughout the entire chain from project investment and development, asset operation and management to fund establishment. More noteworthy is that in July 2026, Prolos signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Ulanqab City in Inner Mongolia to jointly build a gigawatt level ultra large scale green power intelligent computing industry base, achieving on-site consumption of green power through source grid load storage. This model is highly consistent with ACWA Power's investment direction in renewable energy and energy storage. Keywords: International News Network, New Energy, Wind Power, Photovoltaic, Energy Storage

Three Paths of Opportunities for Going Global Emerge

The role of Middle Eastern capital is upgrading from buying Chinese equipment to investing in Chinese new energy assets. In the past, the mainstream narrative of Chinese enterprises going global to the Middle East was equipment exports. However, ACWA Power's investment in Chinese new energy projects through Prologis is the entry of Middle Eastern capital into the Chinese new energy industry chain as an investor, which means that small and medium-sized enterprises that make new energy equipment have added a heavyweight buyer on the demand side. At the same time, the joint venture model between Middle Eastern capital and local Chinese operators is worth paying attention to. ACWA Power provides global experience and funding, while Prologis provides local industrial customers, data center needs, and project development capabilities in China. This joint venture model of foreign investment and local output may become the mainstream path for Middle Eastern capital to enter the Chinese new energy market in the future. In addition, the demand for green electricity in computing infrastructure is becoming a new driving force for new energy investment. The demand for green electricity support and energy storage in data centers and computing centers is a rapidly growing niche competition for small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in energy storage systems, intelligent microgrids, and energy management software. Risk Warning: This is a strategic partnership announcement, not a specific project signing. The $30 billion is ACWA Power's previously announced cumulative investment plan in China before 2030, and the actual investment pace is influenced by multiple factors such as project approval, electricity pricing policies, and foreign exchange environment. The specific cooperation projects and progress shall be subject to the official announcements made by both parties in the future.Editor/Gao Xue