Crown Prince launches Sakaka IPP PV, signs power purchase agreements for 7 projects

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman 

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that the inauguration of Sakaka IPP PV in Al-Jouf and the signing of power purchase agreements (PPA) for seven new projects came in line with the directives of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz. 

These PPA agreements were signed to generate solar power across the Kingdom. The production capacity of these projects, in addition to Sakaka and Dumat Al-Jandal projects, will exceed 3,600 MW. It will also supply power to more than 600,000 households and greenhouse gas emissions by over 7 million tons of carbon dioxide. 

Some of these projects hit new records, setting the lowest cost of purchasing solar power across the entire world. The power purchase cost from Shuaibah project stood at 1.04 US cents per kilowatt/hour. Other renewable energy projects will follow, but more details will be announced soon, the Crown Prince said. 

“These projects, along with other renewable energy projects, which are being developed across the Kingdom, constitute essential elements of our plans that seek to optimize the energy mix used to produce electricity,” the Crown Prince affirmed.  

We aim to have the share of each gas and renewable energy in this mix at 50% by 2030, and to substitute gas and renewable energy for around a million barrels of oil equivalent  (BOEs) of liquid gas per day used as fuel in electricity production, water desalination, and other sectors,” he noted.

“This will allow us to have the energy mix that is optimal, most efficient, least costly, and most beneficial for the protection and preservation of the environment. The projects we celebrate today reflect the Kingdom’s efforts that seek to nationalize the renewable energy sector, promote the local content in it, and enable the manufacturing of the components of solar and wind energy production locally, allowing the Kingdom, within the next ten years, to become a global hub for conventional energy, renewable energy and their technologies,” the Crown Prince added. 

Moreover, the Kingdom unveiled the Saudi Green Initiative and the Green Middle East Initiative, which will set the Kingdom’s path to tackle climate change, and protect earth and nature, Prince Mohammed concluded.  

The SAR 1.2 billion Sakaka plant is the first utility scale renewable energy project in Saudi Arabia, awarded to an ACWA Power-led consortium at a world record tariff of 8.781 halalas/kWh. The 300 MW project will supply power to 45,000 of Al Jouf households through clean energy, offsetting over 500 tons of carbon dioxide per annum.