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The Saudi Power Procurement Company (Sppc) signed power purchase agreements for 5.5 GW of green electricity that will be generated by three new solar photovoltaic projects. The three are being built by a consortium that includes renewables giant Acwa Power, the PIF’s Water and Electricity Holding Company (Badeel), and oil giant Aramco subsidiary Aramco Power, according to a statement from the Energy Ministry.
What we know: Two of the solar PV projects — Haden and Al Muwaih — will be set up in Makkah with a capacity of 2 GW each. The third, Al Khushaybi in Qassim, will have a capacity of 1.5 GW.
IN CONTEXT- The new renewable energy projects with a total capacity of 6.7 GW have been tendered since the start of 2024, the ministry said, adding that it plans to tender more projects later this year to help it hit the sought 20 GW target of annual tendered capacities. The ministry hopes to reach 100 to 130 GW by the end of the decade, it said.
Growing interest in renewables as Saudi eyes a future beyond oil: Earlier this week, the Energy Ministry launched an “unprecedented” geographic survey project to identify suitable sites to develop renewable energy sites across the Kingdom. Contracts for the project, which the ministry says is the first of its kind, were awarded to local firms to install 1.2k stations to measure solar and wind energy over 850k sqm. It comes under the Kingdom plan to generate 50% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030.
