The Renewable Energy Projects Development Office of the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced the award of the Wind Energy Project to the consortium led by French energy company EDF Energies Nouvelles and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar).
The project is the first wind power plant in the Kingdom and the second to be offered by the Ministry of Energy as part of the National Renewable Energy Program within the framework of the King Salman Renewable Energy Initiative.
Dumat al-Jandal wind power plant is worth US $ 500 million and is capable of generating sustainable energy capacity for about 70,000 housing units and is expected to generate approximately 1,000 jobs during the construction and operation phases.
The Renewable Energy Projects Development Office has received 4 bids from leading companies in 5 countries. The project has been awarded based on the standard electricity cost of 2.13 cents / kWh, marking a new record for a project of this type in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
This achievement marks another important step for the Kingdom to diversify energy sources. It is worth mentioning that the selection of the project al-Jandal, as the first wind project in the Kingdom; came after the previous studies have shown a strong mixture of wind capabilities of the second and third categories at the project site. this wind plant is expected to have an average annual production of about 1.4 terawatts.