Saudi Arabia Announces 2.6 GW Solar Project

• The Saudi Arabian government has paved the way for a 2.6 GW solar power plant to come up in the city of Mecca
• To be developed in phases, the Public Investment Fund and its selected partners will be tasked with bringing 2 GW online
• Country's REPDO will tender 600 MW of the Al-Faisaliah Solar Project capacity in 2019 itself

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources has announced a new solar power project with 2.6 GW capacity to be developed in phases, of which 600 MW will be tendered by the country's Renewable Energy Projects Development Office (REPDO) in 2019 itself. The other 2 GW of the Al Faisaliah Solar Project will be developed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and its selected partners.

Planned for the city of Mecca, also spelled 'Makkah', the 2.6 GW project will be established in phases and feed the city of Al Faisaliah with clean energy. The ministry signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Prince Khalid Al-Faisal of Makkah region.

In mid-March 2019, REPDO received responses from 256 companies including 100 domestic firms to its call for the 1.515 GW solar project (see Saudi Arabia Invites RFQ For 1.5 GW Solar Project). REPDO is in charge of executing the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) in a phased manner, under which the country aims to have 27.3 GW of renewable energy by 2024 and 58.7 GW by 2030. Solar PV is to contribute 40 GW of the total by 2030 (see Saudi Arabia Aims For 40 GW Solar By 2030).