RIYADH (The Thursday Times) — Saudi Arabia has opened the eighth round of its national renewable energy tenders, inviting developers to qualify for three solar and wind projects with a combined planned capacity of 3,200 megawatts.
The state-backed Saudi Power Procurement Company, known as the Principal Buyer, has issued a request for qualification for the round, which comprises two solar photovoltaic plants totalling 1,900MW and a 1,300MW wind farm.
The solar projects are a 900MW plant in the Riyadh region and a 1,000MW plant in the Asir region in the south-west. The wind project, the round’s largest single scheme, is in the Makkah region.
Half the mix by 2030
The projects are part of the National Renewable Energy Program, led by the Ministry of Energy, which aims for renewable energy and storage to make up about half of the kingdom’s power generation mix by 2030 and to reduce its reliance on burning liquid fuels for electricity.
The Principal Buyer carries out the preliminary studies for each project, runs the tenders, and signs power purchase agreements, and storage service agreements, with the winning developer consortiums. Firms that qualify in this round will be invited to bid later.
The tender follows a run of large clean-energy deals involving Saudi companies. At the COP31 climate summit in Antalya this week, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye signed a 3,000MW wind power agreement.
Pakistan, which has seen its own rapid growth in rooftop solar, told the same summit that it needs $138 billion to build out clean power by 2035.
