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Enowa, a fully owned subsidiary of Neom, will likely award the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract tender in the second quarter of this year to build the Gayal wind farm on a turnkey basis in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk province.

Bid submission was initially expected on 29 January. However, the date has been extended to 3 March.

The project site is approximately 35 kilometres northwest of the former town of Gayal.

The project will have an estimated plot area of 164 square kilometres and is expected to have a capacity of 1,200MW.

The project duration is 31 months from the start date of construction.

The scope of work for the EPC contractors includes the design, supply and installation of wind turbine generators and foundations, three 380kV substations and control systems, meteorological towers, site roads, hard stands, crane pads and associated infrastructure.

According to MEED’s sister site Power Technology, the top four onshore wind power plants in development in Saudi Arabia are:

• Neom green hydrogen wind project: 1,370MW
• Yanbu wind IPP: 700MW
• Al Ghat wind IPP: 600MW
• Waad Al Shamal wind IPP: 500MW

MEED previously reported that Enowa is expected to seek developers’ interest in bidding for the first-phase packages of its renewable energy programme by early 2024.

The first-phase projects are expected to have a capacity of up to 3,000MW.

According to a source close to the project, discussions are ongoing regarding the total number of packages for the first-phase projects, which will include both wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) schemes.

MEED has reported that up to 55,000MW of renewable energy projects are being planned by Neom, which expects to be powered 100% by renewable energy by 2030.

Neom is understood to have appointed SMBC Advisory Services as financial adviser for the first phase of its renewable energy procurement programme.

It will work with Boston Consulting Group, the project’s strategy adviser.

In addition to hosting greenfield residential and tourism hubs, the $500bn Neom gigaproject in northwest Saudi Arabia will also host industrial facilities such as the $8.5bn green hydrogen-based ammonia production complex and water desalination plants.

100 per cent renewable

Before 2030, Neom will source power from the country’s electricity grid to complement energy generated from the first renewable plants catering to the development.

“We aim to start with roughly 50% renewables on day one,” Thorsten Schwarz, grid technology and projects executive director at Neom, told the Middle East & Africa Energy Week organised by Germany’s Siemens Energy in June 2022.

“We are looking at energy deliveries between 2024 and 2025. In the first few years, we will be working with all potential energy sources including … importing from the surrounding environment for energy including from Saudi Electricity Company,” the executive added.

In March last year, Germany’s ILF Consulting Engineers announced that it had been appointed as the consultant for the pre-development studies for three solar PV parks in Saudi Arabia with a potential combined total capacity of 30GW.

MEED later confirmed that the schemes are “related to a major project in northwestern Saudi Arabia”.

The same month, MEED reported that Spanish consulting and engineering firm Typsa would undertake the preliminary studies for three utility-scale solar plants being developed to supply power to Neom.

The solar projects will be located in Hasma, Sharifa and Airport West, according to the company’s newsletter.

The proposed power plant will cover an area of 10,000 hectares and has a total combined capacity of approximately 5,000MW.

Typsa indicated that the client is Enowa, Neom’s energy, water and hydrogen subsidiary.

Earlier this month, Enowa appointed France-headquartered Assystem to conduct pre-development studies for seven planned solar PV parks in the Tabuk and Duba regions in Saudi Arabia.

The sites earmarked to host the solar PV parks stretch across 420 square kilometres, with 65% of land use yielding 20GW in energy generating capacity.