Renewables supply chain takes shape
24 October 2023
Commentary
Jennifer Aguinaldo
Energy & technology editor
It is an open secret that the financial close and construction of most independent power producer projects in the Middle East and North Africa region – and elsewhere – were significantly delayed between 2020 and 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
The China-centric nature of the supply chain, particularly for renewable energy components, triggered increases in solar panel and wind turbine component costs and engineering, procurement and construction expenses. The Russia-Ukraine war and the widespread economic uncertainty it caused subsequently triggered inflation.
Utility clients also paused some projects to allow time to assess the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their future and long-term demand.
Related read: Region turns into battery storage hotspot
Recent developments in the UAE and Saudi Arabia demonstrate their desire to minimise project delivery disruptions should similar events take place in the future, while also supporting their industrialisation strategies.
China's Trina Solar, Abu Dhabi Ports and Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Cooperation & Investment (Jocic) recently signed an agreement for Trina Solar to set up a solar production and supply chain hub in the UAE.
The plan entails setting up a production base for up to 50,000 tonnes of high-purity silicon, 30,000MW of silicon wafers and 5,000MW of battery modules across the solar industry chain. These are understood to be annual capacities for the plants.
In Saudi Arabia, the local Vision Industries and China's TCL Central New Energy Technology Company recently signed a joint development agreement for Saudi Arabia's first solar photovoltaic (PV) crystalline chip factory.
The project's first phase will have a design capacity equivalent to 20,000MW of solar PV production a year and will require an investment of more than $1bn.
Another Saudi-Chinese joint venture plans to build a wind turbine manufacturing facility at Oxagon in Saudi Arabia's Neom gigaproject development. The planned facility will have the capacity to manufacture wind turbines that can produce an equivalent of 3GW of electricity.
Vision Industries and China's Envision are investing in the wind turbine manufacturing plant project, which aims to cater to the growing demand for wind turbines in the broader Middle East and Africa region in light of widespread decarbonisation initiatives.
The first wind turbines are expected to roll out of production by the first quarter of 2025. MEED reported that it will require an investment of approximately $1.5bn.
The more than $120bn-worth of solar and wind power farms planned across the region – exclusive of the small and medium-sized commercial and industrial projects as well as those catering to the planned off-grid green hydrogen plants – can underwrite these investments, assuming all projects go ahead at some point in the future.
In June this year, the UAE tapped Belgium’s John Cockerill Hydrogen and the local firm Strata for the project to establish the country’s first electrolyser production plant.
With over $180bn-worth of integrated green hydrogen projects in the planning and design stages, primarily in Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and the UAE, locating an electrolyser plant in the region is imperative, given the need to scale up global production.
There have also been developments on the lithium and battery storage solutions front.
Australia-headquartered battery company EV Metals Group is developing an integrated battery chemicals complex on a 127-hectare plot in Yanbu Industrial City in Saudi Arabia, which is expected to house a lithium chemicals plant with scope to include a nickel chemicals plant and a cathode active materials plant. The estimated cost for phase one of the lithium chemicals plant is $1.3bn.
Another Chinese company, China’s Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology, plans to build a lithium-ion battery materials plant in Morocco. The planned facility will produce the materials locally, which it will then export to Europe. Morocco’s ample phosphorite ore resources underpin Tinci’s plans.
Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) has also signed an agreement with US-based Ivanhoe Electric to undertake exploration of the Arabian Shield zone in Saudi Arabia for high-demand minerals. The Arabian Shield region – approximately the size of Switzerland – is understood to be rich in reserves of critical minerals such as copper, nickel, gold, silver and possibly lithium.
While these investments are a drop in the bucket compared to the national oil companies' multibillion-dollar investments to increase oil and gas production, they still represent a major change in strategy to support decarbonisation.
Such investments in clean energy will only grow in the future if the countries in the region wish to maintain their status as global energy hubs.
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Hyundai E&C signs $725m Saudi high voltage deal
13 November 2024
South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction (E&C) has won a KRW1tn ($725m) contract to build a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) network project in Saudi Arabia.
The contract forms part of a 1,089-kilometre (km), 500-kilovolt (kV) HVDC transmission line connecting Riyadh Power Plant 14 (PP14) to the Kudmi substation in southwest Saudi Arabia.
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The company signed the contract to build the transmission line's first package, which extends over 369km, with National Grid, the power transmission unit of state utility Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).
The lump sum turnkey project is expected to be completed by January 2027.
Hyundai E&C said the project will utilise a double bipole HVDC system with a power transmission capacity of 4,000MW.
Regarded as a next-generation electricity transmission technology, an HVDC transmission system is ideal for renewable energy such as solar or wind power. It uses direct current for electricity transmission, with voltages between 100kV and 800kV.
An HVDC system is often referred to as a 'power superhighway', transporting significantly more power over greater distances than the common high-voltage alternating current line, and incurs lower power losses.
The South Korean contractor said it has completed 35 transmission line projects in Saudi Arabia in the past 50 years.
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Chinese-led consortium wins $262m Algeria rail deal
13 November 2024
Algeria’s Anesrif has awarded a $262m construction contract to a consortium led by the China Road & Bridge Corporation (CRBC).
The CRBC-led consortium includes China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation and Algeria’s EPE SNTP.
The contract covers construction work for the Bouchegouf-Souk Ahras-Drea railway section, with a total length of 121 kilometres (km). It is scheduled to be completed in 32 months.
This contract is the latest example of Chinese companies undertaking major projects in Algeria.
MEED reported in January this year that Algeria had selected a team of Beijing-headquartered China Railway Construction Corporation and local contractor Cosider Travaux Publics for a contract to build a 575km railway line.
The line will connect the Gara Djebilet iron ore mine in Western Algeria’s Tindouf Province with the national rail network at Bechar.
The project will facilitate transporting materials from the Gara Djebilet iron ore mine to industrial centres and ports along Algeria’s national rail network.
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Hatta hydropower plant heads for trial operation
13 November 2024
Construction work on Dubai’s Hatta pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant is 94.15% complete, and generator installations are under way in preparation for a trial operation in the first quarter of 2025.
According to the state utility, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa), the plant’s upper dam, which includes a 72-metre-high main wall and a 37-metre-high side dam, has also been filled.
The plant will have a production capacity of 250MW, a storage capacity of 1,500 megawatt-hours and a lifespan of up to 80 years.
The state utility awarded the contract to build the plant to a consortium of Austrian firms Strabag and Andritz and Turkey’s Ozkar in August 2019.
Dewa said on 12 November that the AED1.421bn ($387m) project is expected to be fully completed by the end of the second quarter of 2025.
The hydroelectric power plant is designed as an energy storage facility with a turnaround efficiency of 78.9%.
It uses the potential energy of water stored in the upper dam, converting it into kinetic energy as the water flows through a 1.2-kilometre subterranean tunnel.
This kinetic energy rotates the turbines, converting mechanical energy into electrical energy, which can be delivered to Dewa’s grid within 90 seconds to meet demand.
To store energy, clean power generated at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Solar Park will be used to pump water back to the upper dam, converting electrical power into kinetic energy during the process.
Dewa said the project is part of a comprehensive vision to develop Hatta and enhance its sustainable development, including the creation of job opportunities for Emiratis.
It added that the project “also supports the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050”.
Through the project, Dewa aims to diversify energy production from renewable and clean sources in Dubai. These include different available technologies, such as solar photovoltaic panels and concentrated solar power, as well as the use of renewable energy to produce green hydrogen.
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Bahrain invites independent water prequalifications
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Bahrain’s Electricity & Water Authority (EWA) has invited interested firms to prequalify for a tender to develop the state’s first independent water project (IWP).
The Al-Hidd seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant is expected to have a production capacity of about 60 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD) of potable water.
The client expects firms to submit their statements of qualifications (SOQs) by 18 December.
The facility will be developed on a brownfield site and is expected to be fully operational by the second quarter of 2028. It will help expand Bahrain’s water infrastructure to meet projected demand based on its 2030 master plan.
The Al-Hidd IWP will be developed using a build, own and operate (BOO) model for 20 to 25 years.
EWA has also issued the prequalification request for another BOO project, MEED reported on 11 November.
The Sitra independent water and power project (IWPP) is a combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant expected to have a production capacity of about 1,200MW of electricity. The project’s SWRO desalination facility will have a production capacity of 30MIGD of potable water.
The plant is Bahrain’s fourth IWPP, replacing the previously planned Al-Dur 3. The Sitra IWPP is expected to be fully operational by the second quarter of 2029.
Sixty representatives from utility developers and contracting firms attended a market-sounding event for the two separate utility BOO projects in Manama on 21 October.
The firms that sent representatives to the event included France’s Engie, Japan’s Mitsui, Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, AlJomaih Electricity & Water Company and Ajlan & Bros, and Kuwait’s Gulf Investment Corporation, among others, said sources.
EWA’s transaction advisory team for the two BOO projects comprises KPMG Fakhro as the financial consultant, WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff as the technical consultant and Trowers & Hamlins as the legal consultant.
MEED understands that EWA’s Sitra IWPP will likely be Bahrain’s last CCGT plant project. Solar power is expected to account for all future electricity generation capacity.
Bahrain aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2060.
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Neom replaces CEO
12 November 2024
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Nadhmi Al-Nasr has left his role as Neom CEO and will be replaced by Aiman Al-Mudaifer as acting CEO of the company developing the $500bn project in northwestern Saudi Arabia, which includes The Line, Trojena and Oxagon.
In a statement published online, Neom said: “The Neom Board of Directors today announced the appointment of Eng. Aiman Al-Mudaifer as acting CEO of the company. Eng. Al-Mudaifer assumes leadership of Neom, following Nadhmi Al-Nasr’s departure.”
The statement added: “As Neom enters a new phase of delivery, this new leadership will ensure operational continuity, agility and efficiency to match the overall vision and objectives of the project.”
Al-Mudaifer has been head of the Public Investment Fund’s local real estate division since 2018, and the Neom statement says he has a deep and strategic understanding of Neom and its projects.
Neom has attracted significant criticism over the past year as it grapples with major programmes of construction work such as The Line. In a statement announcing the appointment of consultants for work on The Line on 11 November, Neom said it “is currently focused on the initial phases of infrastructure and enabling works for the new city”.
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