Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah City for Atomic & Renewable Energy (KA-Care) has issued a tender for technical, financial and legal consultants to advise on a major new renewables programme.

KA-Care aims to procure 3,500MW of solar photovoltaic (PV), concentrated solar power, wind and waste-to-energy projects over the next three to five years.

Advisers have been invited to submit bids by mid-August.

KA-Care announced a 54GW renewables programme in 2013 and invited feedback, but never tendered a project. The first round was to include 2,000MW of solar projects and 650MW of wind schemes.

The prospects for Saudi Arabia’s renewables markets were revived in 2016, as the National Transformation Plan includes a goal to install 3.5GW of renewable energy by 2020.

Saudi Electricity Company has begun prequalification for developers to carry out 50MW solar PV plants at Al-Jouf and Rafha in the north of the kingdom.

The procurement model for the KA-Care projects is yet to be fixed, but advisers expect some form of independent power project.