ACWA Power and Water & Electricity Holding Company of Saudi Arabia have contracted the renewables arm of India headquartered multinational company Larsen & Toubro's (L&T) Power Transmission & Distribution Business to construct the 1.5 GW Sudair Solar PV Project in the country.
The project is coming up in Riyadh province on 30.8 sq. km. land for which L&T Construction plans to deploy solar modules with associated single axial tracker and inverters. It calls the project the 'largest' solar plant in the kingdom with a power purchase agreement (PPA) signed.
In a separate statement, L&T said, it has also started constructing 300 MW Jeddah Solar PV Power Plant being developed by consortium of Masdar, EDF Renewables and Nesma. The trio secured financial closure for the project that's set to sell solar power generated to SPPC for $0.01624/kWh (see Financial Closure For 300 MW Project In Saudi Arabia).
Both these projects are among the 7 solar power plants that have secured PPAs with SPPC (see World Record Low Solar Bid Of $0.0104/kWh In Saudi Arabia).
Active as a EPC service provider for hydel and nuclear power plants, L&T also claims to have more than 2.1 GW utility scale solar projects commissioned, as well as 32 MW floating solar power plants, 135 MWh of battery energy storage projects, 500 microgrids, and 14,000 solar water pumps. The company is now eyeing green hydrogen and carbon capture and storage space.
Another Indian EPC that has been expanding its geographical presence of late is Sterling and Wilson that in February 2021 said it will build a 200 MW solar power plant in Kom Ombo region of Saudi Arabia for an unidentified developer (see Indian Solar EPC Expanding Market Presence Globally).