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Al-Sadawi solar IPP to reach financial close

16 April 2025

 

The project company developing the 2GW Al-Sadawi solar independent power project (IPP) in Saudi Arabia is expected to reach financial close for the scheme next month.

The expected timeline falls within the average six-month period in which IPPs generally reach financial close after the power-purchase agreement (PPA) is signed with the offtaker, in this case Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC).

A developer team that includes Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), South Korea’s Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) and China’s GD Power Development signed the project’s PPA with SPPC in November last year.

The developer team subsequently picked China's Shanghai Electric to undertake the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work for the 2GW project. 

The Masdar-led team offered a levelised cost of electricity of hals4.847 a kilowatt-hour ($c1.29/kWh) for the contract to develop the scheme, which is located in the Eastern Province.

The second-lowest bidder was a team that includes China’s SPIC Huanghe Hydropower Development and France’s EDF Renewables, which offered to develop the project for $c1.31/kWh.

US/India-based Synergy Consulting is providing financial advisory services to SPPC for the fifth-round tender of the National Renewable Energy Programme (NREP). Germany’s Fichtner Consulting is providing technical consultancy services.

SPPC is procuring 30% of the kingdom’s target renewable energy by 2030. Saudi sovereign wealth vehicle the Public Investment Fund (PIF) is procuring the rest through the Price Discovery Scheme. The PIF has appointed Acwa Power, which it partly owns, as principal partner for these projects.

The Saudi Energy Ministry last year said that the kingdom plans to procure 20GW of renewable energy capacity annually until 2030, subject to demand growth.

Hear directly from the gigaproject owners at the biggest construction event—The Saudi Giga Projects 2025 Summit, happening in Riyadh from 12-14 May 2025. Click here to know more

MEED’s April 2025 report on Saudi Arabia includes:

> GOVERNMENT: Riyadh takes the diplomatic initiative
> ECONOMY: Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy forges onward
> BANKING: Saudi banks work to keep pace with credit expansion
> UPSTREAM: Saudi oil and gas spending to surpass 2024 level
> DOWNSTREAM: Aramco’s recalibrated chemical goals reflect realism
> POWER: Saudi power sector enters busiest year
> WATER: Saudi water contracts set another annual record
> CONSTRUCTION: Reprioritisation underpins Saudi construction
> TRANSPORT: Riyadh pushes ahead with infrastructure development
> DATABANK: Saudi Arabia’s growth trend heads up

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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