The Sudair Project by AVWA power is considered as one of the largest solar plants in Saudi with1.5GW capacity in Sudair, Saudi Arabia. The investment will be $907 Million (SAR 3.4 Billion) on the solar plant.
L&T bagged the EPC Order to set up the solar plant
For Larsen & Toubro’s power transmission and distribution sector, this is a major step to an EPC contract (Engineering, Procurement, and construction). Being part of a consortium back by Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund (PIF).
The project is coming up in 30.8 square km of land in Riyadh province. This land is sufficient to install a 1.5GW solar plant, with inverters, single-axis trackers, and other required equipment.
L&T’s CEO and managing director said, “With several GW of solar EPC experience, L&T has emerged as a global technology player for solar plants,”
Furthermore, he also added, “L&T has been a provider of EPC services for several green projects in recent years. We have a diversified renewable portfolio of 32 M.W. floating solar power plants, 135 MWh of battery energy storage projects, 500 microgrids, and 14,000 solar water pumps. L&T is also working on potential solutions related to green hydrogen and carbon capture and storage technologies.”
Besides this project, L&T also secured another major project of 400MW in Gujarat.
The solar project
The project will start commissioning by 2022. Saudi Arabia’s PIF holds 50% of the ACWA power. Recently, they made a 25-year deal with Saudi Arabia’s power procurement company.
This project is set to set aside 2.9 tons of carbon emissions every year. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF Governer said,
“The Sudair solar PV plant and the signing of this important agreement embody PIF’s commitment to invest in sectors that will shape the future of the global economy.The renewable energy sector is a critical sector that provides sustainable solutions against the challenges of climate change, through developing projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions.”
Saudi Arabia has natural resources and the land to install the technology. The PIF’s goal is to take advantage of that and use cutting-edge technology in developing solar plants. They talk about providing power to the private sector, as well as the local sector. For now, the delivery expected rate is $12.39 a megawatt-hour.
Furthermore, the chairman of ACWA, Mohammad Abunayyan says,
“With the world has reached a critical juncture in developing solutions to urgently address climate change, Saudi Arabia is proud of its leading role in driving the energy transition effort. As the first project under the PIF renewables program, the Sudair solar PV plant holds special significance, marking the advancement of the journey towards a sustainable economy.”
Also, the anticipated capacity of the plant is to be able to provide power to 185,000 homes. That is, in addition to reducing the carbon emissions plan.
