The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), a company responsible for procuring power in Saudi Arabia, has released a list of eligible bidders for a fifth round of solar projects with a combined capacity of 3.7 GW. The projects were announced as part of the country’s National Renewable Energy Programme, and they include several renowned renewable energy providers.
The 2 GW Al Sadawi solar plant, which will be built in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia; the 1 GW Al Masa’a project, which will be built in the Province of Hail; and the 400 MW Al Henakiyah 2 and 300 MW Rabigh 2 projects, which will be built in the Provinces of Madinah and Makkah, respectively, are the four solar projects that will be developed under this round. The NREP’s objective is to increase the proportion of renewable energy in the country’s energy mix, with a target of 50 per cent of its electricity coming from renewable sources by 2030.
The SPPC initiated a request for qualifications for these projects in November 2023 and is tasked with their pre-development, tendering and energy off-take. In the combined managerial and technical member category, it has prequalified eighteen companies, including Masdar, Samsung C&T Corporation, SPIC Huanghe Hydropower Development Co., Sumitomo Corporation, and Total Energies Renewables SAS. In the management member category, the following five companies have been approved: Saudi Electricity Company, JERA, GEK TERNA, Gulf Energy Development Public Company, Power Construction Corporation of China, and JERA.
In February 2024, the company stated that pre-qualified developers were chosen for four gas-fired combined cycle power projects with a combined capacity of 7.2 GW, all of which will be carbon capture and sequestration ready. These projects are the Nairyah-1 and Nairyah-2 IPPs in the eastern area of the country and the Rumah-1 and Rumah-2 IPPs in the centre region. In January 2024, requests for preparing were made for each, each with a 1.8 GW capacity. For these projects, a total of seventeen companies and consortia were eligible. Among them were a group consisting of Samsung C&T, JERA, Acwa Power, Korea Electric Power Corporation, and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company.
