Energy Leaders Abunayyan Holding and Nextpower Complete Formation of Joint Venture, Nextpower Arabia

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--

Nextpower (Nasdaq: NXT, formerly Nextracker) and Abunayyan Holding today announced the completion of the incorporation of the previously announced joint venture, Nextpower Arabia, headquartered in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The new joint venture will accelerate the deployment of utility-scale solar power plants across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, supporting national and regional renewable energy transformation objectives and Net Zero targets.

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As part of the new joint venture, the partners also announced a new advanced manufacturing facility in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Nextpower Arabia will provide advanced tracker systems, yield management, and control solutions for installation on large-scale solar projects across the MENA region.

The facility is expected to enable total manufacturing and localized supply chain capacity of up to 12 GW per year, supporting the creation of up to 2,000 jobs and development of local engineering and technical talent within the Kingdom. Currently under construction on a 42,000-square-meter site, the production facility is anticipated to open in Q2 of calendar year 2026 and will manufacture Nextpower’s comprehensive portfolio of solar tracking systems, adding up to 600 employees ( watch the video ).

Khalid Abunayyan, Chairman of Abunayyan Holding, said, “Making energy and water supply readily accessible, sustainable, and affordable is essential to the continued economic and social development of Saudi Arabia and our partners across the region. It is also central to the core values and DNA of Abunayyan Holding. Partnering with Nextpower, a true pioneer in the international solar energy community, strengthens our role in advancing Saudi’s clean energy vision by localizing advanced manufacturing and technologies, building local capacity development, and creating lasting value for generations to come.”

Dan Shugar, founder and CEO of Nextpower, said, “Saudi Arabia is a strategic market for Nextpower as we expand our ability to serve customers across the Middle East. The Kingdom is making significant progress in advancing the energy transition, and we’re proud and honored to support these monumental initiatives with proven solar technology and trusted local partnerships. Abunayyan Group’s regional expertise and alignment with our business focus make them the right partner to help deliver greater value, faster, for customers in the region.”

Turki Al-Amri, Abunayyan Holding CEO and Nextpower Arabia Chairman and CEO, said, “Our manufacturing facility represents the first step in our strategic vision to strengthen and localize the solar supply chain for our partners across the MENA region and enhance collaboration to deliver highly efficient and cost-effective clean energy. By sourcing core materials such as Saudi-produced steel through our strategic partners and manufacturing locally, we are supporting economic diversification and industrial growth that is at the foundation of Saudi Vision 2030.”

Nextpower Arabia combines the deep regional expertise of Riyadh-based Abunayyan Holding with the global solar technology leadership of Nextpower. Abunayyan Holding brings more than 75 years of experience developing and privatizing the operation of critical water and energy infrastructure across Saudi and the MENA region. The company was a key driver of the consortium behind the founding and growth of several development arms and forming joint ventures that bring leading technology to the region.

U.S.-headquartered Nextpower is a global leader in advanced solar tracking systems and software, with over 150 GW of trackers under fulfilment or operational across more than 45 countries worldwide. This total includes more than 6 GW of solar projects across the Middle East and Africa, such as Phase V of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in the UAE and 3 GW of Saudi landmark projects, including:

Nextpower Arabia is well positioned to support the National Renewable Energy Program in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which targets increasing the share of renewables in the country’s energy mix by 2030. Localizing manufacturing in the Kingdom will also support Saudi Arabia’s industrialization and export development plans while helping reduce the cost of clean energy for major projects across the region.

According to the Middle East Solar Industry Association’s (MESIA) recent 2025 Solar Outlook Report, cost competitiveness and improving production efficiencies are accelerating solar adoption and government-backed clean energy strategies, with regional solar capacity projected to exceed 180 GW by 2030.

In support of this growth opportunity, Abunayyan Holding and Nextpower anticipate funding the joint venture with approximately $88 million (approximately 330 million Saudi Riyals) in equity and public and private debt financings over the next two years alone. This capital will facilitate the buildout of the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility and development of highly skilled technical and engineering capabilities with a track record in operational excellence.

About Nextpower

Nextpower™ (Nasdaq: NXT, formerly Nextracker) designs, engineers, and delivers an advanced energy technology platform for solar power plants, innovating across structural, electrical, and digital domains. Our integrated solutions are designed to streamline project execution, increase energy yield and long-term reliability, and enhance customer ROI. Building on over a decade of technology and market leadership, the company delivers intelligent power generation systems and services to meet rapidly expanding global electricity demand. Nextpower partners with the world’s leading energy companies to power what’s next. Learn more at www.nextpower.com.

About Abunayyan Holding

Abunayyan Holding is one of Saudi Arabia’s most established and leading companies in the fields of water, energy, and infrastructure. With a legacy spanning more than 75 years of leadership and innovation, the company provides integrated solutions that contribute to sustaining life and supporting the Kingdom’s national development goals.

The Group comprises a portfolio of strategic subsidiaries covering the full value chain across water, renewable energy, treatment, industrial equipment, and smart infrastructure, serving both local and regional markets in Saudi Arabia and the broader Middle East and North Africa region.

Through its local and international partnerships, Abunayyan Holding plays a key role in localizing technologies and empowering national talent in alignment with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 to build a prosperous, sustainable, and innovation-driven economy.

For more information, please visit Abunayyan Holding.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including: statements regarding the deployment of utility-scale solar power plants in MENA and the ability to reach renewable energy objectives, including Net Zero targets; statements regarding the speed, cost efficiency and supply-chain optimization anticipated from the joint venture; statements regarding the development of manufacturing facilities and the benefits associated with such development, including capacity increases and job creation; and statements regarding the anticipated benefits of the joint venture, and future opportunities for the joint venture, including the benefits customers may realize as a result of the joint venture. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual results due to a variety of factors including: the satisfaction of other closing conditions and the ability of Nextpower to successfully integrate operations and employees in the joint venture; the market demand for products, solutions and services offered by the joint venture and the joint venture’s ability to deliver them to customers; the risks of operating in the Kingdom and the MENA region; unexpected costs, charges or expenses resulting from the joint venture; the joint venture’s ability to successfully grow its business; potential adverse reactions or changes to business relationships resulting from the announcement or completion of the joint venture; the retention of key employees, customers, or suppliers; projections regarding the global demand for electricity and solar power; macro-economic trends; and legislative, regulatory and economic developments, including changing business conditions in our industry or markets overall and the economy in general. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements, including risks and uncertainties that are also described under “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Nextpower’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents that Nextpower has filed or will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There may be additional risks that Nextpower and/or the joint venture is not aware of or that Nextpower and/or the joint venture currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from these forward-

looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Nextpower and the joint venture assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Energy Leaders Abunayyan Holding and Nextpower Complete Formation of Joint Venture, Nextpower Arabia

PARIS (AP) — The International Energy Agency agreed Wednesday to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history, in a bid to counter the effects on energy markets of the war in the Middle East.

The Paris-based organization said it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from its members’ emergency reserves. It’s a larger stock than the 182.7 million barrels that were released in 2022 by the IEA's 32 member countries in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Without sufficient routes to market and with no more available storage, Middle East oil producers have started to reduce production," IEA executive director Fatih Birol said. "And we have seen further attacks and damage to energy and energy-related infrastructure. Refinery operations have also been disrupted, with major implications for jet fuel and diesel supplies in particular.”

IEA member countries currently hold over 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency oil stocks, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation.

In response to U.S. and Israeli strikes, Iran has attacked commercial ships across the Persian Gulf, escalating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich region as global energy concerns mount.

Iran has effectively stopped cargo traffic in the narrow Strait of Hormuz through which about a fifth of all oil is shipped from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean. It has also targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations, aiming at generating enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to end their strikes.

Germany and Austria said earlier Wednesday they would release parts of their oil reserves following an IEA request for members to release the record 400 million barrels to help temper energy price spikes due to the Iran war. Japan also said it will release some of its reserves starting Monday.

Group of Seven energy ministers met Tuesday at IEA headquarters in Paris to look at ways to bring down prices. Birol said afterward that they discussed all available options, including making IEA emergency oil stocks available to the market.

The IEA reserves were established in 1974 following the Arab oil embargo.

“This is a major action aiming to alleviate the immediate impacts of the disruption in markets,” Birol added. "But, to be clear, the most important thing for a return to stable flows of oil and gas is the resumption of transit through the Strait of Hormuz.”

The G7 is comprised of the leading industrialized nations of Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Britain. Austria is not a member.

The group's leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, met Wednesday via videoconference to discuss energy issues.

During his introductory remarks, French President Emmanuel Macron praised the IEA decision to release emergency oil stocks, saying it amounted to the equivalent of “20 days of the volume being exported through the Strait of Hormuz." The amount being released by G7 nations, alone, comprises 70% of the total, he said.

“I think it’s very important to see as well everything we can do in order to increase our global production,” Macron added.

Germany's economy ministry, Katherina Reiche, said the IEA asked Germany to release 2.64 million tons of its oil reserves. It was not immediately clear how much Austria was releasing.

She said it would take a couple of days before the delivery of the first quantities.

“Germany stands behind the IEA’s most important principle of mutual solidarity," Reiche said.

The G7 energy ministers announced Tuesday that they supported in principle “the implementation of proactive measures to address the situation, including the use of strategic reserves.”

According to the IEA, export volumes of crude and refined products are currently at less than 10% of prewar levels.

Austrian Economy Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer said his country was releasing part of the emergency oil reserve and extending the national strategic gas reserve, adding: “One thing is clear: in a crisis, there must be no crisis winners at the expense of commuters and businesses.”

The German government also said it will introduce a measure to allow gas stations in Germany to raise fuel prices no more than once a day. The federal government wants to introduce this as quickly as possible, Reiche said.

In Austria, starting Monday, price increases at gas stations will be allowed only three times a week, the country’s economy minister said.

IEA nations have released emergency stocks on five previous occasions: During the 1990-1991 Gulf War, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, during the Libyan civil war in 2011, and twice after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Grieshaber reported from Berlin. Associated Press reporters John Leicester and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

Big oil tanks are pictured in front the BP refinery in Gelsenkirchen, one of the biggest fuel producers in Germany, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Big oil tanks are pictured in front of the BP refinery in Gelsenkirchen, one of the biggest fuel producers in Germany, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

FILE - Fishermen work in front of oil tankers south of the Strait of Hormuz Jan. 19, 2012, offshore the town of Ras Al Khaimah in United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)

Smoke rises from a building following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburb, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Signs show the gas prices at a gas station, Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)