Latest News

• 
  Riyadh AI goals require collosal mindset and capital shift

  Administrator

  13 September 2024

  The ongoing Global AI (Gain) summit in Riyadh is not short on showmanship. Event-branded cars and coaches ferry delegates between their hotels and the car park of the Diplomatic Quarter, where golf carts driven by enthusiastic, cheerful young Saudis await to take them to the chandelier-laden King Abdulaziz International Convention Centre.

  The chassis of a luxury electric vehicle from Lucid, which is majority owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and a bright yellow canine-like mobile thermal camera from Boston Dynamics are some of the top crowd drawers at the show, which thousands are attending.

  The opening performance of a young Saudi named Omar of the late John Lennon's provocative song Imagine enthralled the audience, composed mainly and albeit ironically of established technology suppliers, startups and venture capitalists looking to create a business or bring home deals out of Saudi Arabia's outsized AI fervour, driven mainly by the need to drive efficiency and foster new industries post-oil.

  Abdullah Al-Sharif Alghamdi, president of event proponent Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) – pronounced Sadaya locally – underscored the kingdom's desire to influence the development of global AI standards, ethics and regulations.

  Saudi Arabia ascended the 39-member UN Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence last year. SDAIA has also established the International Centre for AI Research & Ethics (ICAIRE), which is being classified as a Category 2 institution under the UN Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organisation (Unesco).

  During the event, SDAIA and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) announced the establishment of a Middle East hub of OECD's AI Policy Observatory, which tracks over 1,000 AI-related policies globally.

  Several memorandums of understanding have been signed over the past two days, including making the homegrown seven billion-parameter Allam large-language model available on Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform.

  Graphics processing unit (GPU) leader Nvidia also pledged to work with SDAIA to build a 5,000-GPU supercomputing platform in the kingdom, which will likely require close to $200m in investments based on the average unit price of each Blackwell chip. 

  PIF, which plans to create a $40bn AI fund, has not so far made any new announcements at the show, where foreign venture capitalists openly declared that they are looking at world-class AI products to invest in.

  Crucially, the presence of female Saudis staffing companies that are exhibiting at the show or visiting it is palpable, and somewhat unprecedented for a technology event being held in one of the world's most conservative societies.

  It confirms National Center for AI assistant CEO Steve Plimsoll's statement that there are more female Saudis taking engineering and IT courses today than there are males.

  This trend, he says, persists in most Saudi startups, providing the best hope yet of overcoming the kingdom's greatest perceived weakness in implementing its AI strategy – the lack of foundational skillsets, which have been the hallmark of technology epicentres such as the US Silicon Valley.

  Plimsoll also told MEED that Allam 7B has outperformed the latest, 13 billlion-parameter version of Google's LLM, Llama, in, a recent benchmark, which indicates that the Saudis are indeed making some headways in realising their AI aspirations.

  The executive, who previously served as global chief analytics officer at UK-headquartered HSBC, said over 150 developers worked on Allam, which is envisaged, first and foremost, as an enabler of Saudi government services.  

  As the excitement and hype dissipate, the real job of making AI deliver on its promise to foster a prosperous, just society will have to begin for the rest of the kingdom's 36.4 million population.

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  Jennifer Aguinaldo
• 
  Enowa sets Oxagon water recycling EPC deadline

  Administrator

  12 September 2024

  Enowa, the utility and energy subsidiary of Saudi gigaproject developer Neom, is understood to have set a new bid deadline for the contract to design and build a wastewater recycling plant catering to Oxagon, the development's industrial cluster.

  Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors are expected to submit revised proposals for the contract on 3 October, sources close to the Oxagon Village Water Recycling Plant project tell MEED.

  According to one of the sources, EPC contractors had previously submitted bids for the contract.

  However, following initial post-tender negotiations, Enowa issued an addendum, which necessitates the submission of revised proposals.

  According to data first obtained by regional projects tracking service MEED Projects, the Oxagon Village Water Recycling Plant project entails the construction of the following:

  • Wastewater truck receiving facility
  • Pretreatment facilities including screens and equalization
  • Main biological treatment adopting a food chain reactor (FCR) technology

  The scope also includes the construction of tertiary treatment and sludge handling facilities and recycled water storage tanks, as well as internal roads, offices and education centres.

  This project is separate from the Hidden Marina wastewater recycling plant project, which is being procured on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

  The bidder prequalification process is under way for this project, which will have the capacity to treat 64,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) of wastewater, expandable to 80,000 cm/d.

  The Hidden Marina project will supply water recycling services to the anticipated occupants of the 170-kilometre-long pair of parallel buildings that will make up The Line at Neom.

  It will utilise a build-own-operate-transfer model, with the sewage treatment concession period extending 25 years from the date of operation, which is expected to be in the second quarter of 2027.

  The project's first phase is expected to cost approximately SR1.3bn ($347m).

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  Jennifer Aguinaldo
• 
  China’s Top starts $400m Aramco housing construction

  Administrator

  12 September 2024

  Top International Engineering Corporation, the international entity of China’s Shaanxi Construction Corporation, has started the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works on the SR1.5bn ($400m) Saudi Aramco staff accommodation across the remote sites of Haradh and Wudayhi.

  Senior executives from the developer team that won the contract, which comprises local companies Lamar Holding and Asyad Group, and Top broke ground on the project on 11 September, less than two months after the project reached financial close.

   A special project vehicle, First Developers Real Estate Development Company, has been formed to implement the Haradh and Wudayhi housing public-private partnership (PPP) project.

  According to Hani Abdulhadi, Lamar Holding's managing director, Top’s proven ability to deliver complex infrastructure projects on a global scale makes them the “perfect partner for this ambitious development”.

  The project’s total built-up area will exceed 140,000 square metres, making it one of the largest staff housing developments in the region.

  The complexes are expected to house up to 2,800 employees across 11 residential buildings. There are also two mosques and a clinic, as well as a refurbished recreational facility and an expanded medical facility at each complex.

  The scope of the contract includes the construction of a sewage treatment plant operations building and the installation of chiller plants, according to regional projects tracker MEED Projects.

  Aramco first tendered the Haradh and Wudayhi PPP contract in 2019, before retendering it in 2022.

  Saudi Aramco received three bids for the retendered contract on 25 August 2022. The other two bidding teams were led by Al-Rajhi Development Company and Yamama, both based in Saudi Arabia.

  MEED previously reported that local lenders led by Riyad Bank had agreed to provide debt for the project.

  US/India-based Synergy Consulting provided financial advisory services to the Lamar-Asyad team.  

  Aramco is procuring two other housing PPP schemes. 

  A team led by the local El-Seif Engineering Contracting Company was awarded the contract to develop and implement the Tanajib housing PPP project in early 2022. The project scope included the development of 2,500 housing units, in addition to a food court, parking facilities and infrastructure.

  In January 2023, a team led by Lamar Holding is understood to have won the contract to develop Aramco's staff accommodation located on Abu Ali Island. The project is expected to house 700 employees and is valued at an estimated $250m.

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  Jennifer Aguinaldo
• 
  Firms prepare Noor Midelt 3 bids

  Administrator

  11 September 2024

  Prequalified utility developers and investors are preparing to submit their proposals for a contract to develop the next phase of Morocco's Noor Midelt solar independent power producer (IPP) programme.

  Noor Midelt 3 IPP scheme is expected to have a solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity of up to 400MW and a battery energy storage system capacity not exceeding 400 megawatt-hours (MWh).       

  The Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) requested proposals for the contract in June. It initially expected to receive bids on 23 September but the deadline is understood to have been extended.

  The project will be located at the same complex as the first two phases of the scheme.

  In December, Masen prequalified eight groups to bid for the Noor Midelt 3 solar IPP contract. These are:

  • Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) (UAE) / Taqa Morocco (local)
  • Acciona (Spain) / Green of Africa (local)
  • Acwa Power (Saudi Arabia) / Nareva Holding (local)
  • Cobra (Spain) / Vinci Concessions (France)
  • EDF Renouvelables (France) / Mitsui & Co (Japan)  
  • Iberdrola (Spain)
  • Kahrabel (UAE) / GDF International (France)
  • SPIC Huanghe Hydropower Development (China) / Amea Power (UAE)

  The Noor Midelt 3 IPP project will be implemented according to a 30-year power-purchase agreement between Masen as the offtaker and the project company that will be formed for the scheme. 

  In the case of participation by any international finance institutions, such as Germany’s KFW or the European Investment Bank, those banks’ procurement rules will be applied to the project, according to Masen.

  The Noor Midelt 3 plant is expected to be built on a dedicated and available site that Masen will provide under a land lease or equivalent agreement.

  This suggests that common infrastructure such as the water supply, roads and telecommunications services will be shared, and will be constructed “to ensure overall consistency of the solar complex and optimise benefits from a simultaneous development of the infrastructure”.   

  US/India-based Synergy Consulting is the client's financial adviser for the project.

  Midelt 2

  Separately, in July last year, Masen prequalified six teams to bid for a contract to develop the second phase of its Noor Midelt solar programme. The Noor Midelt 2 solar IPP consists of a 400MW solar PV power plant with battery storage of two hours.

  The prequalified companies are: 

  • Acwa Power (Saudi Arabia)
  • Cobra Servicios, Communicaciones y Energia / Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios (Spain)
  • EDF Renouvelables (France) / Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar, UAE)
  • Enel Green Power (Italy) / Taqa Morocco (local)
  • Iberdrola Renovables (Spain) / Dongfang Electric (China) / Gaia Project (local)
  • International Power (Belgium) and Nareva (local)

  At the time, the planned scheme was expected to include thermal concentrated solar power and PV solar components, similar to Noor Midelt 1, which was awarded to a consortium of EDF and Masdar.

  Clean energy target

  Morocco has set a target for 52% of its energy to be produced from clean energy sources by 2030, one of the most ambitious targets in the Middle East and North Africa region.

  Morocco aims to bring its renewable capacity to 10,000MW by 2030. Solar PV capacity is expected to comprise 4,500MW, with wind and hydroelectric comprising 4,200MW and 1,300MW, respectively.

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  Jennifer Aguinaldo
• 
  Saudi Arabia’s power sector motors on

  Administrator

  11 September 2024

  

   

  Saudi Arabia’s power sector has sustained its project activity momentum over the past six months.

  The principal buyer, Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), awarded the contracts to develop two publicly-tendered wind independent power producer (IPP) projects, with a total combined capacity of 1,100MW, under the fourth round of the kingdom’s National Renewable Energy Programme (NREP).

  The Public Investment Fund (PIF), responsible for procuring through direct negotiations 70% of the kingdom’s 2030 target renewable energy capacity, let three large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects with a total combined capacity of around 5,500MW.

  State majority-owned Saudi Aramco also awarded a contract to develop an independent cogeneration project with an electricity generation capacity of 475MW.

  During the same period, SPPC began the tendering process for two combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) projects, the Remah and Nairiyah IPPs, each with a capacity of 3,600MW, and for four solar PV schemes with a total combined capacity of 3.7GW under the NREP fifth round.

  “It has been a very busy summer,” notes a senior executive with an international utility developer, referring to the submission of bids in August for the contracts to develop the Remah 1 & 2, Nairiyah 1 & 2, and the NREP round-five solar PV schemes.

  Notably, the principal buyer has initiated the selection process for consultants who will advise on its next pair of independent CCGT power plants – the 2,400MW Al-Rais and the 3,600MW Riyadh 16 projects.

  Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and SPPC are also understood to be conducting bilateral talks for the development of five CCGT power plants, which, along with those currently being built or tendered, support the kingdom’s mandate to replace fleets running on liquid fuel.

  Essentially, the reported SEC projects, each with a capacity of 1,500MW-2,000MW, bear some similarities to PIF’s directly negotiated renewable energy schemes.

  These projects help substantiate previous reports that SEC has been seeking to lock in gas turbine equipment deals with a total capacity of 30GW, in line with an overall capacity expansion plan within and outside Saudi Arabia.

  The next few years can only get busier, with Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, confirming in June plans to tender 20,000MW of renewable energy projects annually starting this year, in line with reaching 100GW-130GW of installed capacity by 2030, "depending on electricity demand growth".

  This represents a major upward revision to the official 2030 renewable energy capacity target of 58,700MW.

  However, it is unclear if this new target considers the renewable capacity that will be installed to power Neom, Saudi Arabia’s largest gigaproject, as well as the requirement of green hydrogen projects that the PIF plans to codevelop.

  Wind IPPs

  In May, SPPC awarded a team led by Japanese utility developer Marubeni Corporation the contracts to develop the 600MW Al-Ghat wind and 700MW Waad Al-Shamal wind IPPs.

  The team of Marubeni and its partner, the local Alajlan Brothers, is also expected to win the contract to develop the 700MW Yanbu wind IPP, the final wind scheme included in NREP’s round four.

  These are important awards for Marubeni, which last won an IPP contract in Saudi Arabia in 2021 for the 300MW Rabigh solar scheme.

  Notably, the Al-Ghat and Waad Al-Shamal wind IPPs will be developed at world-record-low levelised electricity costs of $c1.565 a kilowatt-hour (kWh), or roughly 5.87094 halalas/kWh, and $c1.70187/kWh or 6.38201 halalas/kWh.

  PIF projects

  In June, three Saudi utility developers and investors signed power-purchase agreements (PPAs) with SPPC to develop and operate three solar PV projects with a combined capacity of 5,500MW.

  The Haden and Muwayh solar PVs, located in Mecca, will each have a capacity of 2,000MW, while the Al-Khushaybi solar PV power plant in Qassim will be able to generate 1,500MW of electricity.

  The team that will develop the three projects consists of Acwa Power, PIF-backed Water & Electricity Holding Company (Badeel) and Saudi Aramco Power Company (Sapco), a subsidiary of the state majority-owned oil giant.

  The project companies formed for each solar IPP have since signed financing documents for the projects, which will require a total investment of SR12.3bn ($3.3bn). The financing sought was $2.6bn.

  These projects comprise round four of PIF’s Price Discovery Scheme, with Acwa Power as the preferred developer partner.

  Energy storage systems

  The scale of new conventional and renewable energy capacity being developed in the kingdom – some 3,500MW of solar PV and wind capacity is now online, with over 10,500MW under construction – has increased the urgency to build energy storage systems to balance the kingdom’s energy system and stabilise its grid.

  SPPC has signalled plans to procure gigawatt-sized battery energy storage systems (bess) using an IPP model. The tendering process for the first bess IPP package is expected to begin by the year-end or early 2025.

  In parallel, National Grid Saudi Arabia, an SEC subsidiary, has started awarding contracts to build energy storage systems capacity using an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model. The local Algihaz Holding is understood to have won the contracts to build four energy storage systems in Najran, Madaya and Khamis Mushait, which will have a total combined capacity of 7.8 gigawatt-hours (GWh).

  Also in August, SEC tendered contracts for the construction of five battery energy storage systems with a total combined capacity of 2,500MW, or roughly 10GWh.

  The planned facilities, each with a capacity of 500MW or roughly 2GWh, are located in or within the proximity of the following key cities and load centres:

  • Riyadh
  • Qaisumah
  • Dawadmi
  • Al-Jouf
  • Rabigh

  Saudi Arabia’s plan to build its first large-scale nuclear power plant in Duwaiheen, which appeared to be making progress before October last year, has faced delays following shifting geopolitics involving stakeholders that include the US and Israel. The tender bid deadline for nuclear technology providers is understood to have been postponed and no new date has been set.

  As it is, Saudi Arabia’s ever-expanding power projects pipeline, particularly for renewables and bess, will require investors, contractors and lenders to allocate sizeable resources, perhaps more than they have historically done in the past, over the next several years as various stakeholders endeavour to meet Vision 2030-tied peak demand scenarios.

  This applies less to CCGT projects, which, pending a clear carbon-capture strategy from the offtaker or the Energy Ministry, appear to attract a decreasing number of developers and investors.

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  Jennifer Aguinaldo
• 
  UAE and India sign nuclear pact

  Administrator

  11 September 2024

  Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) and Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the operation and development of civil nuclear energy programmes.

  According to Enec, the MoU establishes a framework for “potential cooperation in various areas, including the supply chain development, sharing of operational expertise, human resource development, the provision of nuclear consulting services, future investment opportunities and research and development”.

  This agreement is the first MOU between the UAE and India in the nuclear sector. It marks an important step in strengthening the strategic partnership between both nations to accelerate the decarbonisation of the energy sector.

  “This MoU is a major step forward in our goal to triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050, while drawing on the valuable expertise of our partners in India,” said Mohamed Al-Hammadi, Enec managing director and chief executive.

  The UAE’s nuclear regulator recently announced that the fourth reactor of the Barakah nuclear power plant has reached commercial operations.

  The completion of the 5,600MW, $43bn project coincides with the UAE’s plan to invest in and codevelop nuclear power plants globally.

  As part of its MoU announcement with India, Enec said it has now signed over 100 MoUs with 16 nations. Its objectives include knowledge sharing and collaboration with other nations utilising nuclear energy for power generation as well as those nations looking to commence their programmes in the future.  

  Related read: Barakah 1 full operations give way to phase two

  Photo: Enec

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  Jennifer Aguinaldo
• 
  Saudi Arabia and Nvidia plan a 5,000-GPU platform

  Administrator

  11 September 2024

  The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) and US-headquartered AI microprocessor giant Nvidia plan to establish the largest high-performance data centre infrastructure in the Middle East and North Africa region.

  The project will expand SDAIA’s existing supercomputing infrastructure in Riyadh.

  According to an official statement, the expansion “is planned to integrate Nvidia’s most advanced technologies, including the upcoming Nvidia Blackwell architecture, and is expected to eventually grow to over 5,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), setting a new benchmark for digital innovation and infrastructure in Saudi Arabia”.

  The kingdom is already home to eight of the world’s top 500 most powerful supercomputers globally, most of which are installed at Saudi Aramco. SDAIA’s planned new infrastructure could only increase that number.

  Related read: Saudi Arabia asserts AI ambitions

  Nvidia and SDAIA also announced at the ongoing Global AI (Gain) summit in Riyadh an agreement to work together to make Allam, a Saudi homegrown Arabic language technology, more accessible to developers.

  The firms announced in a statement the integration of “the latest Nvidia technological advancements to enable developers to more easily build and deploy AI applications with the Allam Arabic large-language model (LLM)”.

  The collaboration will enable access to Nvidia NeMo, part of the US technology firm’s AI enterprise software platform for large-scale language model training.

  It also enables access to Nvidia’s NeMo Guardrails for AI safety, which will provide “developers with a faster, more accessible path to building generative AI applications”.

  Related reads:

  • Saudi Arabia and UAE acquire Nvidia chips
  • Abu Dhabi and Riyadh rivalry extends to AI
  • Region plays high-stakes AI game

  Photo: Pixabay, for illustrative purposes only

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  Jennifer Aguinaldo
• 
  Companies confirm Saudi gigaproject slowdown

  Administrator

  11 September 2024

  

   

  Companies working on Saudi Arabia’s gigaprojects have expressed concerns about the pace of development in the kingdom despite increased levels of contract awards this year. 

  The concerns demonstrate how Saudi Arabia’s gigaprojects programme and the marketing hype it has generated risks falling short of market expectations in spite of delivering solid progress with contract awards. 

  Companies in Saudi Arabia have reported a noticeable slowdown in activity on the kingdom’s gigaprojects programme this year. 

  During MEED’s webinar on Saudi Arabia’s projects market in late August, attendees were asked: “Have you seen a noticeable slowdown in activity on the gigaprojects programme this year?”. Of the 362 respondents, 72% reported a slowdown, 19% said that activity levels are roughly the same, and 10% reported an increase in activity. 

  The poll results reflect a significant change in sentiment towards the Saudi market since the start of this year. In January, attendees of another MEED webinar on the Saudi projects market were asked if they anticipated more contract awards in 2024 than in 2023. Over 92% answered that they expected more awards in 2024, building on the record numbers registered in 2023, when there were $44.5bn of contract awards in the kingdom across all sectors. 

  Since January, there have been reports on how the delivery of The Line at Neom will be phased, as well as rephasing exercises for other projects as budgets come under strain. These exercises followed comments from the Finance Ministry at the end of last year, which admitted that some projects will be slowed down as the government manages its finances more tightly.

  The perceived slowdown in activity on the gigaprojects expressed in August is also reflected by data from regional projects tracker MEED Projects. During August this year, no contract awards were recorded on the kingdom’s five official gigaprojects: Diriyah, Neom, Qiddiya, Roshn and the projects being developed by Red Sea Global.

  The total value of contracts awarded by the gigaproject developers in August 2023 was $587m, which suggests the performance in August this year was not just a result of a typical seasonal summer slowdown. 

  The lack of contract awards for the gigaprojects in August bucks the otherwise positive trend for the year. By the end of August, there had been $14bn of contract awards in 2024 compared to $9bn during the same period in 2023, representing a 55% increase on last year. The total registered by the end of August this year is close to achieving the $15.8bn total registered for the full 12 months of 2023.

  Major awards this year have included the $4.7bn contract to build dams at Trojena that was won by Italy’s WeBuild and a $2bn contract won by a joint venture of local firm Albawani and Qatari contractor Urbacon Trading & Contracting for the construction of assets in the Wadi Safar development of the Diriyah project in Riyadh. An estimated $1bn design-and-build contract was also secured by a joint venture of local firm El-Seif Engineering Contracting, Egyptian contractor Hassan Allam Construction and Beijing-headquartered China Harbour Engineering Company to deliver infrastructure and building works for Terminal 1 of the port at the Oxagon industrial city development in Neom.

  Wider market

  The broader Saudi projects market has followed a similar trajectory. By the end of August this year, there had been $72bn of contract awards compared to $44.5bn of contract awards during the same period of 2023. During August 2024, there were $14bn of contract awards, and if the market replicates this performance again, it will have already outperformed the $86bn total recorded for all of 2023. 

  Major highlights include the National Housing Company (NHC) signing an agreement with Beijing-headquartered China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) to construct 20,000 housing units for projects being developed by NHC. Another major signing was the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) awarding a SR4bn ($1bn) design-and-build contract to upgrade the Wadi Laban cable bridge to the joint venture of Turkish contracting firm IC Ictas and Riyadh-based Al-Rashid Trading & Contracting Company.

  Outside of the construction sector, Saudi Aramco has awarded billions of dollars worth of contracts for major projects such as the third phase of the kingdom’s Master Gas System and the Fadhili gas plant. 

  For some contractors, it is not the volume of work being awarded that is the main issue but rather the pace at which contracts are awarded.

  “We were rushed to submit bids for a major project before the end of last year. There have been changes to the scope and clarifications, but ultimately, there is still no decision on a contract award,” says an international contractor working in Saudi Arabia. 

  Payments are another perennial concern for companies working on projects in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC. Despite the buoyant market conditions, most companies still say that getting paid on time is a problem. During the MEED webinar in August, attendees were asked if their companies were being paid on time for work on projects in the GCC. Of the 382 respondents, 64% said they were not being paid on time, while 36% said they were being paid on time. 

  While contractors remain optimistic about the volume of work planned in Saudi Arabia, the slowdown in spending is forcing a shift in contractors’ bidding strategies.

  “Saudi Arabia is booming,” says an international contractor working in the kingdom. “A lot of oil and gas projects are moving forward, but for the civil construction, we have noticed a slowdown and some challenges with cashflow. We expect this trend to continue, and to avoid these problems, we will focus our efforts on the revenue-generating projects.”

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  Colin Foreman