Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with consortiums of Al Jomaih Energy and Water as well as Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) for its key conventional independent power plant (IPP) projects – Taiba-1, Taiba-2, Qassim-1, and Qassim-2 – being set up in the kingdom at an investment of nearly SR29 billion ($7.8 billion).

These projects boast a total capacity of 7.2 GW and are being implemented as part of Saudi Arabia’s energy mix plan under the supervision of the Ministry of Energy, said SPPC, the state-owned company which is the off-taker for both projects.

The PPAs for the Taiba 1 and Qassim 1 IPP with total capacity of 3,600 MW, were signed with a consortium led by SEC as a managing member, and Acwa Power, a leading regional developer of power and desalination projects, as the technical member.

Additionally, the SPCC also sealed power purchase deals for its Taiba 2 and Qassim 2 projects (with a total capacity of 3,600 MW), with a consortium led by Saudi-based Al Jomaih Energy and Water Company as managing member, French utility major EDF as technical member, and Buhur for Investment Company as consortium member.

This comes in addition to the expansion project of Rabigh Power Plant, which will see a block of combined cycle gas turbine units with a total capacity of 1200 MW being implemented as a value addition. SEC had earlier been given the go-ahead for this expansion project.

All these projects will boost the total capacity by 8.4 GW, enough to power around 3.5 million homes annually.

Meanwhile, SPPC also signed a PPA for the 400 MW Tabarjal Solar PV project, as part of Round 4 in the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP). Once operational, it will contribute to supplying power to around 75,000 residential units annually.