State-owned Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has shortlisted multiple consortiums to develop four solar projects with a total capacity of 3.7 GW, according to a statement. The projects are set to reel in SAR 8 bn (USD 2.1 bn) of investments. No timeline was disclosed for the final selection or the project’s targeted conclusion date.

The bidders: SPCC shortlisted two consortiums out of six that applied for each project. One consortium includes UAE's Masdar, Korea Electric Power Corp and GD Power Development. They also included an alliance comprising Cina’s SPIC Huanghe Hydropower Development and the French EDF Renouvelables, and an alliance of Al Jomaih Energy & Water Co and TotalEnergies Renewables.

More details: SPPC issued requests for qualifications (RFQs) for the projects last year. The solar farms include the 2 GW Al Sadawi IPP, the 1 GW Al Masa’a IPP, the 400 MW Al Henakiyah 2 IPP in Al Madinah, and the 300 MW Al Rabigh 2 IPP in Makkah. The awarded contracts are set to include a power purchase agreement with SPCC for 25 years.

All part of NREP: The projects are the fifth round of projects under KSA’s National Renewable Energy Program (NREP). SPCC signed power purchase agreements (PPA) to offtake energy from the 1.1 GW Al Henakiyah Solar PV project and the 400 MW Tabarjal solar park – the fourth round of projects – last year. The company also signed PPAs with Acwa Power and Badeel to develop and operate three solar energy projects with a 4.5 GW cumulative generation capacity at an investment ticket of SAR 12.2 bn (c. USD 3.3 bn) under the program last year.

With more to come: SPPC issued requests for qualification (RFQs) for five wind and solar projects in the sixth round of the NREP last month. This round will add a combined capacity of 4.5 GW to Saudi Arabia's renewable energy portfolio.

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