Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has announced that a total of 16 utility project developers have been prequalified for the sixth round of solar projects coming up across the kingdom with a total capacity of 3,000 MW.

 The projects are being implemented under the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) which is led and supervised by the Ministry of Energy, said SPPC.

 The Round 6 solar projects in the kingdom comprise the 1400MWac capacity Najran Solar IPP and 600MWac Darab Solar PV IPP in the Southern Province as well as 600MWac Samtah Solar PV IPP and 400MWac Sufun Solar PV IPP in the Central Province.

The list of the prequalified bidders include global players such as French utility majors EDF Renouvelables and Total Energies; Japanese heavyweights Marubeni, Sumitomo and Jera as well as Korean groups Kepco and Korea Western Power in addition to Chinese utility majors Spic Huanghe Hydropower and Jinko Power (Hong Kong) and leading Singaporean energy and urban solutions provider Sembcorp Utilities.

The 3,000MW solar projects also attracted bids from several top Saudi groups, both on their own and in consortium with global firms. Among the key firms prequalified by SPPC are Nesma Renewable Energy, Al Jomaih Energy and Water and Al Gihaz Holding Company as well as Alfanar Company in consortium with PowerChina and FAS Energy with Saudi Electricity
Company.

 The UAE-based Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar); Kahrabel, the regional unit of French utility major Engie  in consortium with Korean group Posco International are also in the race.