The Arab Authority for Investment and Export Credit Guarantees, known as “Dhaman,” has revealed that the renewable energy sector in the Arab region has attracted 360 foreign projects with total investments exceeding $351 billion, providing over 83,000 jobs from January 2003 through December 2024.
In its second sector report for 2025, focusing on electricity and renewable energy in Arab countries, which was published today from its base in Kuwait, the authority noted that five Arab nations—UAE, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania, and Jordan—together drew in 248 foreign projects during the same period, accounting for 69% of the total, with an investment of approximately $291 billion, or 83% of the total funds. These projects created about 68,000 jobs, representing 82% of the overall job creation.
The report, which addresses four main areas—electricity generation capacity and consumption in Arab countries up to 2030, foreign trade in electricity and energy generation equipment for 2024, foreign projects in the renewable energy sector, and investment and business risk assessments in the electricity and energy sector for 2025—highlighted that the UAE emerged as the leading investor in the renewable energy sector over 22 years, based on the number of projects, investment costs, and job creation, with 57 projects representing 16% of the total and investments exceeding $88.5 billion, making up 25% of the total, providing more than 16,000 jobs.
The report pointed out that the top ten companies investing in the renewable energy sector hold approximately 25% of the total number of projects, 40% of total investment costs, and 38% of net new jobs. The Saudi company ACWA Power led the way in the number of projects with 20, amounting to 6% of the total, while the UAE’s Infinity Power ranked first in terms of estimated investment costs at $34 billion, approximately 10% of the total. Additionally, India’s ACME stood out for creating the most jobs, exceeding 4,000, which represented about 5.2% of the overall job count.
The report further detailed that only five Arab nations—UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, and Egypt—have invested in 90 inter-country projects in the renewable energy sector, which constitutes around 25% of all foreign ventures in the sector over 22 years. The investment for these amounted to about $113 billion, representing approximately 32% of the total costs of foreign projects, and creating around 22,000 job opportunities.
In terms of investment risks and incentives in the electricity and energy sector across 14 Arab countries, as evaluated by Fitch through two indicators for risk and incentive assessment for 2025, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman were recognized as the most attractive Arab nations for investment in the electricity and energy sector, followed by Morocco, Egypt, and Algeria.
It is anticipated that electricity generation in the Arab region (15 countries) will increase by 4.2%, surpassing 1,500 terawatt-hours by the end of 2025, with projections showing it could rise to 1,754 terawatt-hours by 2030. The report also indicated a significant geographical concentration in electricity generation within the region, as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Iraq, and Algeria are expected to represent 74% of the total generated electricity by the end of 2025.
The report noted an expected increase in electricity consumption across Arab states, forecasting a growth rate of 3.5% to reach 1,296 terawatt-hours by the end of 2025, with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Algeria, and Kuwait accounting for 74% of the total electricity consumption in the region, equating to approximately 958 terawatt-hours.
The average individual electricity generation in the Arab countries is expected to rise by 3.1% to 8.6 thousand kilowatt-hours by the end of 2025, continuing to increase to around 9.6 thousand kilowatt-hours by 2030.
On the international trade front, the report indicated that Arab countries’ exports of electricity and energy generation equipment are projected to increase by 8% to approximately $39.2 billion in 2024, with five countries—UAE, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq, and Qatar—accounting for 81% of this figure. The rise is attributed to a 9% increase in Arab exports of electricity and energy generation equipment to about $7.6 billion and a 7.8% increase in imports exceeding $31.5 billion throughout the same year.
Notably, the top ten exporting countries accounted for roughly 78% of the total Arab imports of electricity and energy generation equipment, valued at $24.7 billion. Turkey emerged as the largest exporter of electricity to the region, worth $446 million, while the United States led the way as the largest supplier of energy generation equipment to the region, valued at $6.6 billion.
The report clarified that the top ten countries importing from the region captured 58% of total Arab exports of electricity and energy generation equipment, worth $4.4 billion. Libya was the largest importer of electricity, valued at $59 million, while France was the leading importer of energy generation equipment from the region, valued at $593 million.