The contract was announced at the Saudi Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources (MEIM) after a call for tenders has been initiated in August 2017.
Located 560 miles from north of Riyadh, in the Al Jouf region of north-western Saudi Arabia, the project is touted to become the country’s first wind farm.
The power generated from the wind farm will be sold to Saudi Power Procurement Company, a subsidiary of SEC (Saudi Electricity Company), under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA).
The wind project is owned by EDF Renewables and Masdar with 51% and 49% stakes, respectively.
EDF Group Renewable Energies senior executive president and EDF Renewables chairman and CEO Bruno Bensasson said: “We are delighted to be awarded this first wind project in the country, which is set to be the most powerful wind farm in the Middle East.
“This success reflects the quality of our partnership with Masdar which has enabled us to jointly submit the most competitive bid. Wind power is now representing a renewable and economical solution in the energy mix.
“This new project demonstrates our ambitions in the country and represents another step forward under the EDF Group’s Cap 2030 strategy, which aims to double its renewable energy capacity by 2030 – both in France and worldwide – to 50GW.”
As per REPDO, the consortium submitted a competitive bid of $21.3 per MWh.
Both the teams from EDF Renewables and Masdar have already been mobilized and construction work, especially with local businesses, is expected to begin in few months.
Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi said: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has set a clear energy strategy to substantially increase the share of renewables in its total energy mix to 10% by 2023.
“The selection of Masdar and EDF to develop the Kingdom’s first utility-scale wind power plant is a significant achievement. We are proud to leverage our strong track record in renewables to support the Kingdom’s strategy to in-crease the share of clean energy in its energy mix. Masdar and EDF stand ready to devote our expertise to realising this world-class project.”
In December 2018, Masdar installed the first turbine at the 50MW Dhofar wind farm in Oman. The wind farm is being financed by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD).
