Acwa Power and Engie rival for KSA’s first wind-power project
400MW project has received four bids from international companies
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry’s Renewable Energy Project Development Office has released a notice stating that Acwa Power, the renewable energy units of European utilities Electricite de France and Enel, and Engie’s International Power, are the main bidders for the Kingdom’s first wind-power project.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the world’s biggest oil exporter plans to develop 9.5 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2023, in an initial push to reduce its reliance on crude and natural gas. The report added that four bids had been received for the 400MW project, which was tendered to international companies. No information about the offers were revealed, however.
Located at Dumat Al Jenda city in Saudi Arabia’s northwest, the wind plant will be the first of its kind under the national programme. In February 2018, the Kingdom awarded its first international tender for a 300MW solar plant at Sakaka in the same region. Acwa Power also won the contest for that project.
In March, the Kingdom inked a deal with Japan’s Softbank Group to develop 200GW of solar power capacity by 2030.
The Saudi Energy Ministry delayed a ceremony planned for Tuesday to open the bid envelopes, according to the notice. The ministry said it will announce a new date shortly, without saying why the ceremony was delayed, the Bloomberg report said.
