Saudi Power Procurement Company inks two PPAs for 1.5 GW solar farms: State-owned Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) signed power purchase agreements (PPA) to offtake energy from the 1.1 GW Al Henakiyah Solar PV project and the 400 MW Tabarjal solar park, according to statements here and here. The government-owned company is tasked with the predevelopment, tendering, and subsequent offtake of energy from projects under the Saudi Energy Ministry’s supervision.

First off, Al Henakiyah: The project is being developed in KSA’s Al Madinah by the UAE’s Masdar, France’s EDF Renewables, and Saudi Arabia’s Nesma Co. under a build-own-operate agreement, and SWPPC has inked a a 25-year PPA with the consortium at USD 1.68 per KWh (c. SAR 6.31), the company notes. The companies reportedly plan to break ground on the PV plant in 2024 and the project is expected to come online in 2026. Once operational, Al Henakiyah is expected to generate enough clean energy to power some 190k households annually.

Next, the Tabarjal solar farm: The project is being implemented by China’s Jinko Power, Sun Glare, and Sunlight Energy Holding, and will be located in Tabarjal in the north of the kingdom. SWPPC has also inked a 25-year PPA with the consortium at USD 1.68 per KWh (c. SAR 6.40). The project — for which Jinko is the managing and technical member — is expected to generate enough clean power annually for some 75k households in the country, SPPC notes. The consortium will likely begin construction on the plant in 2024 and kick off operations in 2026.

We knew this was coming: The agreements follow SPPC’s announcement of shortlisted bidders for the fourth round of solar projects under the country’s National Renewable Energy Program (NREP). Both Al Henakiyah and Tabarjal are expected to lure in over SAR 4 bn (c. USD 1.06 bn) in investments.

SPPC has been busy: The company has awarded over 11 GW of renewable energy capacity to date as part of KSA’s target of sourcing 50% of its power mix from renewables by 2030, before becoming fully carbon neutral by 2060, according to the statements. Late last month, the company granted Acwa Power an Initial Commercial Operation certificate for a phase of the 1.5 GW Sudair solar PV, greenlighting activation of another 25% of the project which is now 75% complete. Back in December, a JV between Acwa Power and Badeel signed a 35-year power purchase agreement with SPPC for the 2 GW Al Shuaibah 2 solar plant. And earlier in 2022, SPPC announced it would offtake power from three planned wind farms that will have a combined 1.8 GW power capacity.