Saudi Arabia’s principal power buyer, Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), has awarded contracts to develop and maintain four thermal independent power producer (IPP) projects in the kingdom.

The four plants will use combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGT) and are valued at a combined estimate of SR29.2bn ($7.8bn).

A consortium of Saudi Electricity Company and International Company for Water & Power Projects (Acwa Power), both local, won the contracts to develop the 1,800MW Taiba 1 IPP and 1,800MW Qassim 1 IPP.

A team comprising the local Al-Jomaih Energy & Water, France’s EDF and the local Buhur for Investment won the contract to develop the 1,800MW Taiba 2 IPP and 1,800MW Qassim 2 IPP.

Each project will be developed on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis by the winning consortiums, which will be 100 per cent owned by the successful bidders.

Each project company will enter a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with SPPC.

The power plants will use the latest H and J class turbines from the US’ GE and Germany’s Siemens Energy. 

These classes of turbines will allow the Saudi utility company to utilise carbon capture technologies, a Saudi Press Agency report said on 24 October.

These projects will supply power to approximately 3 million residential units annually, the report added.

Four consortiums proposed to develop the Qassim 2 and Taiba 2 IPPs in late July, and the Qassim 1 and Taiba 1 IPPs on 15 August, as MEED reported.

The other consortiums that bid for the contracts were:

• Taqa (UAE) / Jera (Japan)
• Nebras (Qatar) / Marafiq (local) / Kepco (South Korea)

SPPC qualified over 20 companies to bid for the contracts, MEED reported in February.

Packaged initially as two individual IPPs, each with a capacity of 3,600MW, the two projects have been split into four smaller schemes.

Correction: GE and Siemens Energy will supply the turbines for the projects.

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*=Year-to-date | Sources: IMF, MEED Projects, MEED

MEED’s October 2023 special report on Saudi Arabia includes: 

> COMMENT: Riyadh reshapes its global role
> POLITICS: Saudi Arabia looks both east and west
> SPORT: Saudi Arabia’s football vision goes global
> ECONOMY: Riyadh prioritises stability over headline growth
> BANKS: Saudi banks track more modest growth path
> UPSTREAM: Aramco focuses on upstream capacity building
> DOWNSTREAM: Saudi chemical and downstream projects in motion
> POWER: Riyadh rides power projects surge
> WATER: Saudi water projects momentum holds steady
> GIGAPROJECTS: Gigaproject activity enters full swing
> TRANSPORT: Infrastructure projects support Riyadh’s logistics ambitions
> JEDDAH TOWER: Jeddah developer restarts world’s tallest tower