By Fatihah Fawad.
Since 2013, Masdar, the UAE's state-backed clean energy company, has built solar plants on Pacific islands and bought into major offshore wind farms in Britain. Likewise, Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power has developed solar and storage projects from Uzbekistan to South Africa. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are among the world's leading energy producers, and both are now taking that expertise into renewables well beyond their borders. The curious part is that projects do not follow a single model when it comes to funding.
Different Projects, Different Models
I studied 20 overseas solar and wind projects, each developed, financed or part-owned by Masdar or ACWA Power and agreed or commissioned between 2013 and 2026. I asked one question of each: who paid for it, and on what terms?
Thirteen of the 20 projects were paid for by the UAE government, through grants or soft loans, mostly from the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. Masdar built them, acting as developer on the government's behalf. The remaining seven were commercial deals.
Take the aid projects first. Two funds of USD 50 million each, one for the Pacific and one for the Caribbean, paid for small renewable plants, mostly solar, in Nauru, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Micronesia, Barbados, the Bahamas and other island states. Most of these plants are under 2.5 MW, small by industry standards but significant for island grids. Larger ones were built in Egypt and Mauritania, and the Seychelles got a 5 MW solar park financed by a concessional loan.
The logic here is easy to see. Many small islands make their electricity by burning imported diesel, which makes power very expensive. Masdar estimated that five Pacific projects announced in 2014 would together save more than 1.2 million litres of diesel a year. In Nassau, a 925 kW solar carport at the national stadium, costing about USD 4 million, which Masdar describes as the Bahamas' first large-scale solar project, now feeds the local grid.
The commercial projects follow a different model. Masdar took 20% of the London Array, a 630 MW wind farm off the English coast, and in 2014 paid around £525 million for 35% of the Dudgeon wind farm off Norfolk. Its stated reason was simple: the UK is a major offshore wind market. It also bought into wind farms already running in Montenegro and the United States.
ACWA Power's two projects in my sample both pair solar power with storage. Tashkent Riverside in Uzbekistan pairs a 200 MW solar plant with a 500 MWh battery, which ACWA Power describes as the largest in Central Asia, at a total value of USD 533 million. The project attracted USD 386 million from six international lenders, among them the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Islamic Development Bank. The plant will sell power to Uzbekistan's national grid for 25 years. In South Africa, ACWA Power owns 20.04% of Bokpoort, a solar thermal plant that stores heat for nine hours so it can keep generating after dark. It sells to the national utility Eskom on a 20-year contract.
Once the projects are sorted this way, a few patterns are hard to miss. The technology tends to follow the money. Solar makes up 15 of the 20 projects and almost all of the aid-funded ones, while every one of Masdar's four equity stakes is in wind. The reasons given are different too. High imported fuel costs come up in 11 project descriptions, and only in the aid projects. The commercial deals went to countries with clear renewable targets and national power-buying programmes, like Uzbekistan, which wants 40% of its electricity from renewables by 2030, or to large wind markets like Britain.
There is one thing the two groups share. Both companies are backed by the state. Masdar is owned by Abu Dhabi government entities, and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is ACWA Power's largest shareholder. Every project in my sample was also built in partnership, with a development fund, a co-developer or international banks alongside.
The stated aims behind these projects are cheaper power, energy access and lower emissions. The aid projects can also help build long-term partnerships with small countries, something UAE officials have spoken about openly, describing renewable investment abroad as laying the ground for wider business ties. Researchers have linked this investment to the region's long-term economic diversification. The full benefits, for the Gulf and for the host countries, will become clearer as these projects mature.
A Matter of Interest for India's Observers
India is not in my sample, but it fits the commercial pattern closely. It has a clear national target, 500 GW of non-fossil power capacity by 2030, and large auctions for buying renewable power, the same conditions that drew commercial Gulf investment to Uzbekistan. In 2019, Masdar invested about USD 150 million in Hero Future Energies, an Indian solar and wind developer. Unlike the single wind farms in my sample, this was a stake in a company.
India also has a foot in the other model. It co-founded the International Solar Alliance and has its own solar partnerships with developing and island nations. India, France and the UAE have also agreed to cooperate on energy projects in third countries, which suggests the two models could one day meet: Gulf finance, Indian manufacturing and Masdar's experience building small island plants.
The Gulf's experience is a reminder that a grant to replace diesel on a remote island and an equity stake in a European wind farm are very different things, and should be judged differently: one by the diesel it saves and the people it reaches, the other by the returns it earns.
Seen this way, the Gulf renewable investment in my sample is really two strategies, each matched to the needs of the countries it serves. Treating it as one framework hides the difference between aid and commercial investment. Together, they show that the region is putting its energy experience and financial strength behind cleaner and more reliable power, from small island grids to some of the world's largest wind markets. The pattern also suggests that Gulf states are building a role in global renewable energy that sits alongside their traditional position in the fossil-fuel industry, rather than immediately replacing it.
Fatihah Fawad is a student at Nord Anglia International School, Reem Island, Abu Dhabi. This article draws on her research paper, "Investment Dynamics in the Gulf: Frameworks for International Energy Investments" (2026), which compares 20 overseas renewable energy projects linked to Masdar and ACWA Power. The sample is drawn from public documents and is not intended to cover all Gulf renewable investment. Views are personal.
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