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Saudi Arabia shortlists bidders for its 3.7 GW solar power tender

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The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has announced the shortlisted bidders for the fifth round of Saudi Arabia’s National
Renewable Energy Program (NREP), which include 3.7 GW of solar PV projects. The solar PV plants include the 2 GW Al Sadawi plant located in eastern Saudi Arabia, the 1 GW Al Masaa project located in the Hail province, the 400 MW Al Henakiyah 2 plant located in Madinah province and the 300 MW Rabigh 2 project located in Makkah province.

For the 2 GW Al-Sadawi project, the shortlisted bidders are a consortium comprising the UAE’s Masdar, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), and GD Power Development, which offered a price of US$1.29c/kWh, as well as a consortium formed by China’s SPIC and France’s EDF Renouvelables, which submitted a price of US$1.31c/kWh.

For the 1 GW Al-Masaa project, the bidders are the SPIC-EDF consortium, which offered US$1.31c/kWh, and a consortium made of the Saudi-based Al Jomaih Energy and Water Company and France’s TotalEnergies, which submitted a price of US$1.36c/kWh.

For the 400 MW Al-Henakiyah 2 Project, a price of US$1.40c/kWh was offered by a consortium of SPIC, EDF, and KEPCO, while a consortium including the UAE’s Masdar and the Saudi energy company Nesma offered US$1.52/kWh. Finally, for the 300 MW Rabigh 2 project, Al Jomaih Energy and Water Company, TotalEnergy and KEPCO offered US$1.78c/kWh, while Nesma and Masdar submitted a bid of US$1.89/kWh.

At the end of 2023, installed solar capacity (2.3 GW) represented 2.5% of Saudi Arabia’s total capacity and less than 1% of its power generation. The country plans to reach 50% renewable energy in the power mix by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2060.