Acwa Power inaugurates Saudi Arabia’s first utility-scale solar project
A consortium led by local developer Acwa Power has officially inaugurated the 300MW Sakaka photovoltaic (PV) independent power producer (IPP) project, Saudi Arabia’s first utility-scale renewable energy project
A consortium led by local developer Acwa Power has officially inaugurated the 300MW Sakaka photovoltaic (PV) independent power producer (IPP) project, Saudi Arabia’s first utility-scale renewable energy project.
The Sakaka PV IPP, which has total investment value of SR1.2bn ($320m), was the first project to be awarded under Saudi Arabia’s ambitious National Renewable Energy Programme (NREP) in February 2018.
Acwa Power, with partner Al-Gihaz Holding, was awarded the contract to develop the project for a tariff of 8.781 halalas/kWh ($0.0234/kWh), which at the time was a world record tariff for unsubsidised PV solar. Acwa Power holds a 70 per cent stake in the project, with Al-Gihaz holding the remaining 30 per cent.
Acwa Power has continued to achieve world record tariffs for solar production in Saudi Arabia. The developer recently signed the power purchase agreement (PPA) for a world record tariff of $0.0104kWh for the 600MW Fasiliyah PV IPP, under the NREP second round, smashing the previous record for PV solar.
The developer also recently signed the PPA to develop a 1.5GW PV solar IPP at Sudair. The contract was directly negotiated with the developer under the Public Investment Fund’s (PIF’s) solar programme.
Saudi Arabia has set an ambitious target of developing 58.7GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
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