January 10 - The Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO) of Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry on Thursday released a request for qualifications (RfQ) for 1.2 GW of solar capacity.
The move marks the start of the third round of the country’s National Renewable Energy Program (NREP), which was launched in 2017 to lift the share of renewables in the country’s power mix. The Kingdom’s goal is to have 27.3 GW of renewables capacity by 2024 and 58.7 GW by 2030.
The third round of the programme includes four photovoltaic (PV) projects that will be auctioned in two categories. The first one will target smaller companies and covers the 80-MW Layla and the 120-MW Wadi Al Dawaser solar projects, while the 300-MW Saad and the 700-MW Ar Rass schemes will be offered in the other category.
REPDO will await bids in the RfQ by February 6, 2020. All projects in this round will be implemented under a requirement for at least 17% of local content use.
The competition under NREP’s second round, which was launched in July and seeks to award 1,470 MW of solar capacity from six projects, is still open. The deadlines for submitting proposals with regard to its two categories are January 20, 2020, and February 3, 2020. The first round of the programme facilitated the installation of the 300-MW Sakaka solar park and the 400-MW Dumat Al Jandal wind farm, which is still under construction.
