Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has inaugurated the Sakaka IPP PV power plant, the country’s first renewable energy plant.
The 300 MW Sakaka IPP photovoltaic (PV) solar project is the first ever utility scale renewable energy project under the National Renewable Energy Program of Saudi Arabia.
The Renewable Energy Projects Development Office (REPDO) awarded ACWA Power the contract at a world record-breaking tariff of US Cents 2.3417/kWh (8.781 halalas/kWh). The plant will cover an area of six square kilometeres at Al Jouf. With an investment of US $302 million, this project the first of a series of project under the Saudi national renewable energy programme which aims to produce 9.5GW of renewable energy by 2023.
The projects are part of a push towards renewable energy under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
The seven planned solar plants, in addition to the Sakaka solar PV and Dumat Al-Jandal wind power projects, would produce more than 3,600 megawatts.
They would power more than 600,000 homes, and reduce more than 7 million tons of greenhouse emissions.
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince last month announced the Green Saudi and Green Middle East initiatives to tackle climate change.
