Japanese trading house Marubeni is looking to open a megasolar plant in Saudi Arabia by June 2023, the company’s first solar project in the country and fourth in the Middle East, the Japanese news website Nikkei reports.
Marubeni has formed a joint venture with Saudi utility Al Jomaih Energy and Water for the plant, which is eying Saudi Arabia’s Mecca Province as a location.
Saudi Arabia receives over 3,000 hours of sunlight per year. Solar power presents an incredible opportunity for companies and public-private partnerships to supply the Kingdom with energy and free up oil reserves for export.
The opportunity for solar power in Saudi Arabia is immense as firms seek to profit off the Kingdom’s renewables push, part of Vision 2030.
The Rabigh solar plant will carry a capacity of 300 megawatts and sell power over a 25-year period, the report said. It will serve an industrial region, and Marubeni will handle construction, maintenance and operation. Marubeni owns 50.1% of the new venture, with Al Jomaih Energy & Water holding the rest. A total of 17 billion yen ($156 million) in financing will come from three banks, including the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the Nikkei report said.
Marubeni holds a stake in the Sweihan megasolar development in the United Arab Emirates, one of the largest in the world at 1.17 gigawatts.
In January last year, Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry has issued a request for qualifications for the third round of the Kingdom’s National Renewable Energy Program (NREP), which comprises of “four Solar PV projects with a combined generation capacity of 1,200 MW,” the Saudi Press Agency said.
