Saudi Arabia shortlists ACWA Power, Marubeni for Sakaka solar project

Saudi Arabia’s Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO) has shortlisted ACWA Power and a consortium led by Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corporation to develop a 300 megawatt (MW) solar project in Sakaka, Al Jouf, it said in a statement.

The project will be awarded this month, the REPDO said, adding that the deadline for the financial close will be February 2018. The expected date of commissioning will be during 2019.

Other members of Marubeni's consortium include Khaled Ahmed Juffali Energy & Utilities Limited and Axia Power Holdings BV, the statement said.

The selected bidder for the photovoltaic (PV) project, which is part of the first round of the National Renewable Energy Program, will benefit from a 25-year power purchase agreement with the Saudi Power Procurement Company. 

In October last year, REPDO said that France’s EDF Energies Nouvelles and Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company Masdar had jointly submitted the lowest bid of SAR 0.06697 (1.79 US cents) per kilowatt hour (kWh), while ACWA Power came in second with a SAR 0.0878 per kWh offer.

The Request for Proposals for the Sakaka project was issued on April 17, 2017, with eight bids being submitted by pre-qualified consortia led by international and regional renewable energy developers.

All eight bids that were submitted have been subjected to a detailed evaluation of material compliance to RFP requirements, including the 30 percent local content component for Round 1 NREP projects, REPDO added.