- The crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, revealed today that power purchase agreements for seven large-scale solar power projects in various regions of the Kingdom were signed by the government and several undisclosed developers.
“The output capacity of these projects, in addition to the projects of Sakaka and Dumat Al-Jandal, will amount to more than 3,600 MW,” he said in a statement, adding that one of the projects – the 600 MW Al Shuaiba PV IP project – will sell power at a world record low price of $0.0104/kWh. The project was selected by the Ministry of Energy in Round 2 of the procurement scheme that is being held under the umbrella of the country’s National Renewable Energy Program(NREP).
The 3.6 GW of capacity refers to the cumulative installed power that was assigned through the first two rounds of the scheme, including the Sakaka solar plant, which was connected to the grid in November 2019, and the 1.5 GW Sudair project, which is being developed in direct negotiations with the Saudi authorities.
“More renewable energy projects will follow across the Kingdom, which we will announce when the time comes,” the crown prince stated, without providing further details on the results of Round 2.
The second round of the program initially drew 250 bidders. In July, REPDO said the number of bidders it had narrowed the bidders down to 60 companies, including 28 that were based in Saudi Arabia.
Author: Emiliano Bellini
This article was originally published in pv magazine and is republished with permission.
