Financial Closure For 300 MW Project In Saudi Arabia

• Following financial closure, the consortium of Masdar, EDF Renewables and Nesma have started construction on 300 MW Jeddah Solar Plant in Saudi Arabia
• The project will deploy bifacial solar modules and single axis trackers with robotic cleaning technology
• It is scheduled to come online in 2022 when it will start selling clean power to SPPC under a 25-year PPA

A 300 MW utility scale solar power project planned to come up in Saudi Arabia has entered construction stage after the consortium led by Abu Dhabi's Masdar and France's EDF Renewables along with Saudi Arabia's Nesma achieved financial closure for it.

For the Jeddah Solar Plant, the consortium plans to deploy single-axis tracking technology and bifacial solar modules as well as robotic module cleaning machinery. It will design, finance, build and operate the plant in Third Jeddah Industrial City with a commercial operations date of 2022.

Under the 25-year power power purchase agreement (PPA) signed with Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) in January 2021, the consortium said it will supply this clean energy for the 'most cost-competitive' bid of SAR 60.9042 ($16.24) per MWh, or $0.01624 per kWh.

It is listed as one of the 7 solar projects that signed PPAs with SPPC last week with the kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud claiming what could easily be called the world's lowest winning solar bid to date, at $0.0104 per kWh for 600 MW Shuaibah Solar Project. It is to be implemented by a consortium of ACWA Power, Gulf Investment and Al Babtain Contracting (see World Record Low Solar Bid Of $0.0104/kWh In Saudi Arabia).

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