France’s Total and KSA’s Zahid launch solar project in Saudi Arabia: Saudi Total Petroleum Products (STPP) will begin installing a rooftop solar system on its lubricants blending plant in the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) Industrial Valley to provide around 50% of the the plant’s annual electricity consumption, Arab News reports.

The details: The solar system will provide some 390 MWh of renewable energy annually — equivalent to around 50% of the plant’s annual electricity needs — STPP’s managing director Amine Ghezzar told the outlet. The project will be implemented by Saudi French for Energy Efficiency and Renewables (Safeer) — a JV set up by Total and Saudi’s Zahid Group subsidiary Altaaqa Alternative Solutions in 2021 to provide solar installation services to commercial and industrial companies, the outlet says.

Who’s financing? Safeer is investing in the project, Managing Director of Total’s refining and chemical operations in Saudi Ahmed Tarzi told Arab News, without disclosing the size of the investment.

For KAEC and Safeer, this is not their first rodeo: The companies signed a letter of intent to establish “a major hybrid solar power farm project” in August, according to a statement. The agreement sets out a framework to develop a project with an estimated 12.5 MWp capacity. The project will also target greener waste collection, recycling, and the construction of no-landfill certified factories, the statement added, without providing further details.

STPP and Total are increasing their renewable energy activity in KSA: STPP — a JV between France’s TotalEnergies and Zahid Group — is involved in a variety of large solar projects in different regions in KSA, eyeing growth in wind projects, and looking at partnerships with local players to build the circular economy through projects in plastic recycling and used cooking oil, Tarzi added.

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