EXCLUSIVE: Saudi Arabia seeks clarifications for solar IPP

17 December 2017
Riyadh is aiming to select preferred bidder by mid-January 2018

Saudi Arabia’s Renewable Energy Project Development Office (Repdo) has invited some selected bidders to submit clarifications for its planned 300MW Sakaka solar independent power project (IPP).

According to sources close to the project, two to three of the lowest bidders have been invited to submit clarifications on the bids submitted in October. The selected bidders were invited to submit technical clarifications on 13 December, with commercial clarifications due on 18 December.

Repdo, the body established by the Ministry of Energy, Industry & Mineral Resources to oversee the kingdom’s major renewable energy projects, received proposals from eight bidders on 2 October for the contract to develop the 300MW photovoltaic (PV) solar plant, which is the first major project under the kingdom’s National Renewable Energy Programme (NREP).

It is believed that the client has set a new target of selecting the preferred bidder by the middle of January 2018. The client had originally been planning to have selected a preferred bidder by 28 November, but this has been delayed due to the complex nature of the project and the requirement for clarifications.

A consortium led by the UAE’s Masdar submitted the lowest bid of 1.7859$cents a kilowatt hour ($c/KWh). The low bid was 24 per cent lower than the 2.3417$c/KWh price submitted by the second lowest bidder, the local Acwa Power. Japan’s Marubeni submitted the third lowest bid of 2.6603$c/KWh.

Repdo prequalified 27 companies to participate in the bidding process for the 300MW solar project. A special purpose vehicle, project company, will be formed to develop the project and will be 100 per cent owned by the successful bidder.

Under the 700MW first round of the NREP, a 300MW PV solar project will be developed at a site in Sakaka in the Al-Jouf province and a 400MW wind project will be developed at a site in Dumat al-Jandal.

MEED reported in January that the ministry was going to push ahead with the initial 700MW of the first 3.45GW of renewable energy projects planned by 2020 in the first quarter of 2017. 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.

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