New deadline set for Saudi solar projects

Saudi Arabia’s Renewable Energy Project Development Office (Repdo) has set a new bid submission date of 3 May for the (PV) solar projects under Category A in the third round of the kingdom’s National Renewable Energy Programme (NREP).

 

Saudi Arabia’s Renewable Energy Project Development Office (Repdo) has set a new bid submission date of 3 May for the (PV) solar projects under Category A in the third round of the kingdom’s National Renewable Energy Programme (NREP).

Energy & Utilities recently reported that the client had postponed the bid deadline and would notify the bidders about the new submission date. The previous submission date was 6 April.

The bid submission date for the larger Category B projects, which have a combined capacity of 1GW, remains on 24 May.

The Category A projects are:

• Wadi ad-Dawasir, 120MW
• Layla, 80MW

The Category B projects are:

• Ar-Rass, 700MW
• Saad, 300MW

Each project will be developed under a build-own-operate (BOO) model, with the successful bidder holding 100 per cent equity in the special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up to developer and operate the IPP.

SPVs will sign a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the kingdom’s offtaker. Land for the projects will be secured by Repdo and provided to the project company under sub-lease agreements.

Repdo’s advisers for the third round of the NREP are Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) as lead and financial adviser, Germany’s Fichtner as technical adviser and the UK’s DLA Piper as legal adviser.

Saudi Arabia has set an ambitious target to install 58.7GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, with Repdo to oversee the development of 30 per cent of this though a competitive IPP tendering programme.