Local utilities developer Acwa Power is expected to reach financial close imminently for Saudi Arabia’s first major renewable energy project.

According to sources close to the scheme, the Acwa Power consortium will reach financial close for the 300MW Sakaka photovoltaic (PV) solar project “within days”.

MEED reported in February that the kingdom’s Renewable Energy Project Development Office (Repdo) had awarded the contract to Acwa Power to develop the 300MW PV plant for a world record tariff of $2.34/kilowatt hour (kWh). The 300MW Sakaka solar plant will require a total investment of about $302m.

A special purpose vehicle, a project company, has been formed by the Acwa Power consortium to develop the project and will be 100 per cent owned by the developer.

The Sakaka plant is the first project to be awarded under the kingdom’s ambitious National Renewable Energy Programme (NREP). Repdo is currently evaluating proposals for the second project under the programme: a 400MW wind farm planned for development at Dumat al-Jandal.

The NREP sets out a target for 3.45GW of renewable energy to be developed by 2020 under the National Transformation Plan (NTP), and for 9.5GW of renewable energy capacity to be established by 2023.