Bureau Veritas bags 1.4GW owner engineer deal

10 October 2023

Saudi Arabia-based Ishaa Energy Renewable Company has appointed France's Bureau Veritas as the owner's engineer for the 1,425MW Al-Kahfah solar photovoltaic (PV) project.

Ishaa Energy Renewable Company is jointly owned by Saudi utility developer Acwa Power and Water & Electricity Holding Company (Badeel), a subsidiary of the sovereign wealth vehicle, Public Investment Fund (PIF).

The 1,425 Al-Kahfah solar PV project is one of the three major solar schemes, which PIF awarded this year to a team comprising Acwa Power and Badeel.

The schemes were procured under the kingdom's National Renewable Energy Programme price discovery scheme.   

The agreement between Ishaa Energy Renewable Company and the French certification and testing firm covers the following:

  • design review
  • project management
  • off-site quality control and assurance
  • module testing
  • liaison engineering
  • construction quality assurance and quality control
  • construction management
  • commissioning management services

In June, MEED reported that Badeel and Acwa Power are on track to have the financing agreement in place for three solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in Saudi Arabia by the end of 2023.

The projects have a combined value of SR12.2bn ($3.25bn).

In addition to the Al-Kahfah solar PV, two other projects were awarded to the Badeel and Acwa Team,  namely, Ar-Rass 2, which has a capacity of 2,000MW and Saad 2, which has a capacity of 1,125MW.

The developer team signed the power-purchase agreements with Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) to develop and operate the three projects in May this year.

They take the number of solar PV contracts awarded by PIF  to five.

PIF awarded contracts for the development of the 1,500MW Sudair solar PV in 2021 and the 2,060MW Shuaibah 2 solar PV in 2022.

Acwa Power has not disclosed the levelised electricity cost for the latest three schemes.

Based on MEED data, the three projects take the total number of solar PV contracts being developed by an Acwa Power-led team in Saudi Arabia to 10. These projects have a total combined capacity of 10GW.

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/11206297/main.jpg
Jennifer Aguinaldo
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