Progress with renewable energy schemes will provide a key outlet for growth in the private project financing market, MEED’s Project and Infrastructure Finance Conference has been told.

Speaking at the event on 4 February, Faisal Qadri, director and head of project and export finance capital financing, HSBC Saudi Arabia, said that “growth of private finance will be tied to renewable sector”.

Speaking with reference to Saudi Arabia’s ambitious proposed 54,000MW renewable energy programme, Qadri said HSBC “awaits the programme, and [is] very much looking forward to it”.

“There is lots of developers coming from Europe and looking to form joint-ventures with local players – it’s a very good area for private participation,” said Qadri.

In February 2013, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-Care), set out a roadmap for delivering the first phase of its ambitious renewables programme, which will produce 23,900MW of renewable energy by 2020 and 54,000 MW by 2032.

Under the plans proposed in the white paper, developers will be invited to bid on 20-year power purchase contracts, and the programme will be split into three tendering rounds. The initial three rounds will procure a total capacity of 7,000MW. However, since the release of the draft white paper, KA-Care has not released any further information on a proposed schedule for the programme.

Dubai is also planning a major renewable energy programme, and is working on plans for the second phase of its Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Solar Park.

In December, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) received nine bids for the advisory services contract on the 100MW second phase of the solar park, which is being developed using the independent power project (IPP) model.