Saudi Arabia awards first $500 mln wind power project deal

Saudi Arabia’s Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO) has awarded the $500 million Dumat Al Jandal wind project to a consortium headed by France’s EDF Energies Nouvelles and Abu Dhabi’s Masdar, it announced on Thursday.

The 400 megawatts project will be Saudi Arabia’s first utility-scale wind farm, the statement added.

When completed, the wind farm will generate power for up to 70,000 Saudi households and is expected to create almost 1,000 jobs during construction and operation, it further added.

REPDO awarded the project based on the levelized cost of energy of $2.13 cents/kWh, registering a new record-low price for a project of this type in Europe, Middle East and Africa, the statement added.

This is the second tender to be issued by the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources as part of the National Renewable Energy Programme (NREP), a strategic initiative under Vision 2030 and the King Salman Renewable Energy Initiative.