With the support of Saudi and international banks, the consortium comprising EDF Renewables and Masdar has completed the financing of the Dumat Al Jandal utility-scale wind project in Saudi Arabia.

The Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO) of the Saudi Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources (MEIM) awarded the $500 million (~₹34,505 million) wind farm in January following a call for tenders in August 2017.

The winning consortium had submitted a bid of $21.3 (~₹1,470) per MW an hour.

The wind farm will be located 560 miles north of Riyadh, in the Al Jouf region of Saudi Arabia.

With an installed capacity of 400 MW, the Dumat Al Jandal project will be Saudi Arabia’s first wind farm project and the largest in the Middle East.

Led by French company, EDF Renewables, and Masdar, a subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company, the construction of the project will start soon while the commercial operations are due in the first quarter of 2022.

Vestas is the contracted wind-turbine technology provider and responsible for the engineering, procurement, and construction of the wind projects.

“We are delighted to take part in the first wind project in the country, which is set to be the most powerful wind farm in the Middle East,” said Bruno Bensasson, EDF Group’s senior executive president.

Headquartered in Paris, the EDF Group aims to double its renewable energy capacity to 50 GW by 2030 both in France and worldwide.

Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, said that the award of Saudi Arabia’s first and the Middle East’s largest wind farm, also illustrates the depth of Saudi Arabia’s commitment to realize its bold strategy to substantially increase the contribution of renewables in its total energy mix to 27.3 GW by 2024, from wind as well as solar energy.

The Dumat Al Jandal wind farm will supply electricity according to a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Saudi Power Procurement Company, a subsidiary of SEC (Saudi Electricity Company), the Saudi power generation and distribution company.
According to Osama Khawandanah, CEO of the Saudi Power Procurement Company,  the Dumat A Jandal project has set the benchmark and shows the potential for onshore wind energy in the Kingdom.

Recently, Total Eren and EDF Renewables signed a 25 year-long power purchase agreements for four solar power projects with a capacity of 716 MW. The projects will be installed in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), a multilateral development financial institution, recently signed a strategic five-year Murabaha financing facility worth $75 million with Alfanar Company, a developer and engineering procurement construction (EPC) company for clean energy and manufacturer of electrical products.

Anjana is a news editor at Mercom India. Before joining Mercom, she held roles of senior editor, district correspondent, and sub-editor for The Times of India, Biospectrum and The Sunday Guardian. Before that, she worked at the Deccan Herald and the Asianlite as chief sub-editor and news editor. She has also contributed to The Quint, Hindustan Times, The New Indian Express, Reader’s Digest (UK edition), IndiaSe (Singapore-based magazine) and Asiaville. Anjana holds a Master’s degree in Geography from North Bengal University, and a diploma in mass communication and journalism from Guru Ghasidas University, Bhopal.