UAE’s Masdar consortium wins bid for $1bn solar plant in Saudi Arabia

Abu Dhabi clean energy firm Masdar, also known as Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, along with EDF Renewables and Nesma Company, has won a bid for the 1,100 megawatt (MW) Al Henakiyah solar power plant in Saudi Arabia.

The Masdar-led consortium signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) to develop, build and operate the $1bn solar farm that will power more than 190,000 homes a year.

“Masdar is proud to have won the bid to develop the 1,100 MW Al Henakiyah Solar Plant, further strengthening our partnership with Saudi Arabia,” Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar said in stamen.

“The kingdom is a key strategic market for Masdar, and we are committed to supporting the Ministry of Energy and the SPPC to achieve the targets set out under Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative, as the country accelerates its green transition toward net zero emissions by 2060.”

We are delighted to announce that #Masdar and its partners, EDF Renewables & Nesma Renewable Energy, have signed a PPA with @SPPC_KSA to develop over 1GW single-site solar power plant in #SaudiArabia, Al Henakiyah, set to be one of the world’s largest.

?https://t.co/XtiZ5Y05ht pic.twitter.com/EJhhTLs1xW

— Masdar (@Masdar) November 7, 2023

The Al Henakiyah solar power plant is expected to displace more than 1.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. It will reach financial close in early 2024 and connect to the grid in 2025.

“The SPPC awarded the consortium the project after it submitted the most cost-competitive bid of $16.84 per MW hour,” Masdar said in a statement.

Located in Saudi Arabia’s Al Madinah province, the Al Henakiyah solar plant will help to achieve the target of increasing the share of renewables in the country’s energy mix to around 50 per cent by 2030.

The project, which is set to be one of the world’s biggest single-site solar plants, will be developed, built, owned and operated by the consortium as part of a 25-year agreement with the off-taker SPPC.

Masdar drives energy transition

Masdar is active in over 40 countries and has a total renewable electricity generation capacity of over 20GW. Its global investment portfolio exceeds $30bn and it is targeting a renewable electricity capacity of at least 100 GW by 2030. Keywords: Masdar, EDF Renewables, Renewables, Gulf Business 

The clean energy firm’s global footprint has expanded exponentially over the years, with new renewable energy projects currently under development in Europe, Africa, Central Asia, and the Americas.

This includes the Cirata floating solar plant in Indonesia, the largest in Southeast Asia, and the Garadagh solar power plant, Azerbaijan’s first foreign investment-based independent utility-scale solar project.

Masdar, along with EDF Renewables, entered into a 25-year concession agreement with Saudi Arabian developer Red Sea Global in September to service its ultra-luxury resort destination AMAALA on the northwestern coast.

AMAALA, a 4,155 square kilometres ultra-luxury development featuring hotels and residential properties, is entirely powered by solar energy. The facility will have the capacity to generate up to 410,000 MWh per annum.

The Abu Dhabi-based renewable firm agreed to co-invest in the 476 MW Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea in July. It also partnered with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority to invest $8bn for up to 10 gigawatts of renewable energy projects in the Southeast Asian country earlier in October.

Read: Abu Dhabi’s Masdar lists $750m green bond on ADX