Lowest shortlisted bid in Saudi third PV tender was $0.0148/kWh

Saudi Arabia has announced the shortlisted bidders of the third round of its National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) tender, which includes four solar plants totaling 1.2 GW.

For the 120 MW Wadi Ad Dawasir facility, the two shortlisted bidders are French energy giant TotalEnergies and Saudi power company ACWA, which offered an LCOE of SAR0.0700059 ($0.0186920)/kWh and SAR0.0983772 ($0.0262673)/kWh.

As for the 80 MW Layla plant, the two pre-selected bidders are ACWA, which 0ffered SAR0.1118905($0.0298754)/kWh, and Saudi infrastructure company Alfanar, which submitted a bid of SAR0.1218726 ($0.0325407)/kWh.

ACWA and Chinese developer Jinko Power were the two shortlisted bidders for 700 MW Ar Rass plant, for which they offered SAR0.0562342 ($0.0150148)/kWh and SAR0.0576232 ($0.0153857)/kWh, respectively.

For the 300 MW Saad solar plant, the two pre-selected bidders are Jinko Power, which submitted an LCOE of SAR0.0556255 ($0.0148523)/kWh, and a consortium formed by UAE-based developer Masdar and French energy company EDF, which offered SAR0.0685321 ($0.0182985)/kWh.

“Each of the four projects is obligated to meet the local content requirements imposed by the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority, which aims at increasing the value-added contribution of products and services to the national economy,” the Saudi Ministry of Energy said in a statement. “The successful bidders will enter into a 25-year PPAs with the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) as an offtaker.”