Saudi Arabia starts trial of the first wind turbine in Al-Jouf

The turbines comprise towers, blades, and nacelles, which will be assembled at the project site, 900 kilometers north of Riyadh in the Al-Jouf region. The project will include 99 Vestas wind turbines, each with a hub height of 130 meters and a rotor diameter of 150 meters.

The Kingdom’s first utility-scale wind-power source is being developed by a consortium led by EDF Renewables of France in partnership with Abu Dhabi-based Masdar. The Renewable Energy Project Development Office of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy awarded the project to the EDF Renewables-Masdar consortium in January 2019 after a competitive tender.

Its tariff of $21.3 per megawatt-hour (MWh), the lowest bid submitted, was reduced to $19.9/MWh at financial close, making Dumat Al-Jandal the most cost-efficient wind-energy project in the world. According to the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council, the development of Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy sector could create up to 750,000 jobs over the next decade, as the Kingdom pushes to generate 7 percent of its total electricity output from renewables by 2030.

It will also benefit from a 20-year power purchase agreement with the Saudi Power Procurement Co., a subsidiary of the Saudi Electricity Co., the Kingdom’s power generation and distribution company. Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy program aims to contribute to a sustainable future, preserve nonrenewable fossil fuel resources, and safeguard the Kingdom’s international energy leadership, according to the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy. That way, the program aims to ensure greater long-term global energy market stability.

Renewable energy projects, including wind and solar, are planned across more than 35 parks in Saudi Arabia by 2030.