Saudi International Power and Water Company (ACWA Power) recently announced that it has received the commercial operation certificate for the second phase of Sudair project, the largest photovoltaic power generation project in Saudi Arabia.
The Sudair project has a total volume of 1.5GW. In September this year, the first phase of the project was certified for commercial operation, accounting for half of the total capacity of the Sudair PV project. The expansion of the second phase brings the overall capacity under the commercial operation to a further 1,125 MW.
The project, located in Sudair Industrial City in Saudi Arabia, is the first project under the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) National Renewable Energy Program (NREP), and has also achieved the world's second lowest photovoltaic power generation cost, which is expected to become one of the largest single photovoltaic power plants in the world and the largest photovoltaic project in Saudi Arabia.
When completed, the project will provide electricity to 185,000 homes and offset nearly 2.9 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
In April 2021, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announced plans for the Sudair power station. Meanwhile, Larsen & Toubro's Power Transmission and Distribution Business (L&T) was awarded the design, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Sudair project and started construction in June of that year.
In August of the same year, the project completed the relevant financing, by the PIF 50% owned ACWA Power and Saudi Hydropower Holding Company (Badeel) jointly funded 3.4 billion Saudi riyals (about 907 million US dollars) to develop and construct the Sudair solar project.
ACWA Power and Badeel each hold a 35% stake in the project, with the remaining 30% held by Saudi Aramco's wholly owned subsidiary, Saudi Aramco Power (SAPCO).
Al Shuaibah photovoltaic power generation project
ACWA Power recently announced that in the past 12 months, it has completed financing for 10 major projects in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Uzbekistan, with a total value of more than $14 billion, the most in the company's history. The first and second phases of the Al Shuaibah project are also included.
The main construction and installation of Section C of the project is undertaken by China Energy Construction Gezhouba International Company, with a unit capacity of 600MW, which is the first
