Saudi Arabia issued tender for Round Two of the National Renewable Energy Program, 1.47 GW

The Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO) of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources (MEIM) has issued the Request for Proposal (RFP)s for Round Two of the Kingdom’s National Renewable Energy Program (NREP).

The RFP for two Solar Projects under ‘Category A’ was issued on 01 August 2019, following the issuance of RFP for four projects under ‘Category B’ on 18 July 2019.

The total Solar PV Capacity for the Round Two projects is 1.47 gigawatts (GW).

Earlier, during June 2019, REPDO qualified 60 companies, including 28 from Saudi Arabia.

Qualified companies will now proceed to the RFP stage as either managing member, technical member, or under a newly-created category of ‘local managing member’.

This new category will encourage greater local and international partnerships during the forming of bidding consortiums.

Round Two projects have been divided into two categories: ‘Category A’ for smaller projects and ‘Category B’ for larger projects.

Category A Projects:

1. Madinah Solar PV IPP with a capacity of 50 MW to be located in the Al Madinah Province, approximately 26 km from Madinah city
2. Rafha Solar PV IPP with a capacity of 20 MW to be located in the Northern Borders province, approximately 16 km away from Rafha city

‘Category A’ projects require consortium members to partner with at least one local managing member.

The deadline for ‘Category A’ projects is 3 December 2019.

Category B Projects:

1. Al Faisaliah Solar PV IPP with a capacity of 600 MW to be located in the Makkah Province, approximately 80 km south of Jeddah city
2. Jeddah Solar PV IPP with a capacity of 300 MW to be located in the Makkah Province and approximately 50 km south-east of Jeddah city
3. Rabigh Solar PV IPP with a capacity of 300 MW to be located in the Makkah Province, approximately 145 km north of Jeddah city
4. Qurayyat Solar PV IPP with a capacity of 200 MW to be located in the Al Jawf Province, approximately 15 km away from Qurayyat city

The deadline for ‘Category B’ projects is 18 November 2019.

Projects within Round Two will carry a minimum requirement of 17% local content as calculated by the mechanisms defined by the Local Content & Government Procurement Authority (LCGPA), which aims to increase the value-added contribution of products and services in the national economy.

The six projects being tendered within Round Two represent the first half of REPDO’s 2019 project development pipeline.

A further six projects will be tendered by the last quarter of the year and will constitute Round Three of the NREP.

All projects tendered by REPDO are 100% IPPs that will be backed by 20 to 25-year power purchase agreements.

Read more: Saudi Arabia announces the list of Pre-Qualified Companies for Round Two of the National Renewable Energy Program (1.5GW)