Solar power developments | L&T secures Saudi PV giga project
The renewables arm of Larsen & Toubro’s power transmission & distribution business has secured a turnkey EPC contract for the 1.5 GW Sudair solar PV plant in Saudi Arabia, with associated single axis tracker and inverters. The contract was awarded by a consortium of ACWA Power and the Water and Electricity Holding Company of Saudi Arabia (a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund). The consortium has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) and has made an investment of SAR 3.4 billion ($907 million) in the solar park.
It is the largest solar facility in Saudi Arabia to have attained PPA sign-off and one of the largest PV plants in the world. The facility is to be located in Riyadh province, within a 30.8 square km land parcel earmarked for it.
The first phase of the plant is expected to begin producing electricity during the second half of 2022.
DNV, the “independent energy expert and assurance provider”, acted as technical consultant to the Saudi Power Procurement Company during development of the Sudair solar PV project. DNV says it supported SPPC for over two years with a scope of work that included preparation of project protocol documents, setting the technical conditions for the project, such as grid interconnection requirements, technical aspects of the PPA and the transmission connection agreement. DNV also assisted SPPC in the negotiations leading to the execution of the PPA.
Santiago Blanco, vice president and area manager, southern Europe, Middle East and Africa and Latin America of energy systems at DNV said: “We are delighted to have supported Saudi Power Procurement Company in obtaining PPA sign-off on the impressive 1.5 GW Sudair solar PV project…Supporting such a project aligns with the values we have within DNV of enabling the energy transition globally.” The Sudair project award is in line with the ambitions of Saudi Arabia’s National Renewable
Energy Program (NREP). It is part of the 70% of the target Saudi Arabian renewables capacity of 58.7 GW assigned to the Public Investment Fund. The Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO) has responsibility for arranging competitive tendering for the remaining 30%, as announced by the Ministry of Energy in 2019.
Larsen & Toubro’s power transmission & distribution business has also recently secured the go-ahead to begin constructing the 300 MW Jeddah solar PV power plant, under a turnkey EPC contract from a consortium of Masdar, EDF Renewables and Nesma Company.
Awarded by REPDO to the consortium on a “design, finance, build and operate” basis, the project attained financial closure after the signing of the power purchase agreement, triggering the notice to proceed to L&T. The project, located in Jeddah Third Industrial City, 50 km south-east of Jeddah, includes bifacial modules, single axial trackers, string inverters and robotic module cleaning.
Fortum’s future in Russian renewables
Fortum and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, established in 2011) are jointly developing a 116 MW solar PV power plant in Kalmykia, southern Russia. When commissioned, it will be the largest solar power plant in Russia. The project is being implemented by the recently established joint venture between Fortum and RDIF, which already has 350 MW of wind power plants in the Ulyanovsk and Rostov regions.
The Kalmykia solar power plant is expected to be fully commissioned in the second half of 2022. The first phase, amounting to 78 MW, is expected to begin supplying electricity to the Russsian wholesale electricity and capacity market (WECM) in the fourth quarter of 2021 and the remaining 38 MW in 2022. The Kalmykia plant was among renewable energy investment projects selected for backing via the Russian Capacity Supply Agreement (CSA) auctions held in 2018 and 2019.
The sale of the CSA-backed Kalmykia project to the joint venture contributed 17 million euros to Fortum’s Russian earnings recorded in the first quarter of 2021.
Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said: “The investment in the construction of a solar power plant in Kalmykia is aimed at developing a joint platform with Fortum and creating one of the largest renewable energy players in the Russian Federation. An important part of the project is the use of Russian made equipment. RDIF expects significant growth in the renewable
26 | May 2021 |
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energy segment in Russia in the coming years and intends to make a significant contribution jointly with partners to the creation of new eco- friendly energy capacity.”
Fortum is one of the largest players in the renewable energy market in Russia with a portfolio of around 2 GW of wind and solar power plants and development projects at various stages of development, together with its joint ventures. Some 670 MW of this
capacity is in operation.
In November 2017 Fortum signed an agreement to acquire three solar power plants from Hevel Group, Russia’s largest integrated solar power company. The transaction was closed in December 2017. All three power plants, commissioned in 2016 and 2017, are operational with a total capacity of 35 MW. Hevel Group provides operation and maintenance services for all three sites.
Above: Pleshanovskya plant, part of Fortum’s existing PV portfolio in Russia
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