Toyota set to fund and operate Saudi solar plant
Major JV initiative with TotalEnergies Renewables will support $100m project in Wadi Ad Dawasir
Japanese group Toyota Tsusho Corporation has announced that its joint venture (JV) with French energy firm TotalEnergies Renewables has secured a contract from Saudi Power Procurement Company for a leading-edge, 119MW solar power plant. Also involved in the JV is a unit of the Saudi-based Zahid Group.
The $100 million project is being set up by Toyota Tsusho through a joint venture company, Noor Alwadi Renewable Energy Company, in which both the Japanese group and TotalEnergies Renewables each have a 40% stake, while Altaaqa Renewable Energy has the remaining 20%.
The solar plant, which is the first renewable project in Saudi Arabia for Toyota Tsusho group, will be implemented on a complete build, own, operate model and is set to be located in Wadi Ad Dawasir.
The work on the plant has already begun and it is due for commercial operations in March 2025.
According to Toyota Tsusho, this project was selected for the ‘Financing Programme for Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) Model Projects’, an initiative of Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, in 2022. The purpose of this initiative is to financially support the implementation of projects which reduce GHG emissions by using leading decarbonisation technologies in developing countries, and in return, to acquire JCM credits for Japan in achieving its GHG emission reduction targets.