Saudi Arabia and Türkiye have signed an agreement on renewable energy power plant projects. It occurred during the visit made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Kingdom, as part of the development of the bilateral relations and the centralization of the strategic cooperation between the two nations in the energy sphere.
The deal was signed on the Saudi side by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, minister of energy, and by Alparslan Bayraktar, minister of energy and natural resources, on behalf of the Turkish side.
The agreement is designed to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the sphere of renewable energy and green technologies, and facilitate the creation and realization of high-quality projects that will make the energy mix more diverse, and help to increase the energy security and speed the process of transition to a low-carbon economy in accordance with the priorities and strategies of both countries.
The agreement entails the development and installation of the solar power plant projects in Türkiye, which is to have a total of up to 5,000 megawatts of electricity installed in two phases.
The initial stage involves two solar power projects in Sivas and Karaman, with a capacity of 2000 MW. The second phase involves other projects that will be realized depending on the structures agreed on by both sides, with a supplementary capacity of 3,000 MW.
The first phase projects propose extremely competitive electricity rates in comparison to other renewable energy facilities in Türkiye. Moreover, the plants, which will be an investment of about $2 billion, will power over two million Turkish households.
A Turkish state-owned company will acquire the electricity generated by these plants for a period of 30 years. In the process of the project’s implementation, the local utilization of equipment and services will be maximized.
Both parties confirmed that this is a major move in developing the investment relationship between the Kingdom and Türkiye.
It is also indicative of how the two countries trust each other and have a shared interest in expanding their cooperation in strategic projects with sustainable economic and developmental effects in line with the best international practices, and play their part in transferring knowledge, building capacity, and benefiting both countries mutually.
According to the Financial Analysis Unit at Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper, based on data from the General Authority for Statistics, the trade exchange between the Kingdom and Türkiye recorded an annual growth of about 6 percent in the first 11 months of the previous year, as they reached about SR28.2 billion ($7.5 billion).
This means that trade relations between the two nations continue to develop, and the flows of goods are improved. The information indicated that Saudi exports showed 58 percent of total trade exchange, with imports showing 42 percent, leading to a trade surplus of SR4.4 billion for Saudi Arabia.
During this period, Saudi exports were valued at about SR92.6 billion, compared to imports of Turkish goods worth SR48.3 billion, resulting in a cumulative trade surplus in favor of Saudi Arabia of SR44.3 billion.
In a statement, Chairman of the Saudi-Turkish Business Council Sami Al-Osaimi, speaking at the Saudi-Türkiye Investment Forum 2026, said 1,400 Saudi companies in Türkiye have invested more than $18 billion and 390 Turkish companies in the Saudi market.
