Saudi Arabia has finally joined the league of nations generating power from wind energy. The oil-rich kingdom achieved this status when its first wind farm connected to the grid. A consortium spearheaded by French company EDF Renewables and UAE-based Masdar developed the 400 MW farm located at Dumat al-Jandal under an Independent Power Producer scheme.
Dutch firm Vestas supplied and installed all the 99 wind turbines on the farm. Each turbine has an installed capacity of 4.2 MW, with a hub height of 130 m and rotor diameter of 150 m. Most of the installation work has been completed, showing lots of progress from when the project started in September 2019.
The wind farm will generate enough power to support 70,000 households and prevent nearly a million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. EDF’s consortium got the project award for half a billion dollars in January 2019 after submitting the lowest bid at $21.3 per MWh, which later dropped to $19.9 per MWh, a global record in the wind energy business. The contract spans 20 years of power purchase agreement.
Vestas and Spanish firm TSK were brought onboard, while local Al-Babtain Contracting Company built the substations and high-voltage components of the project. The construction phase of the project alone produced more than 600 local jobs.
The Dumat al-Jandal wind farm is part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
Olivier Marchland, project director of Dumat al-Jandal Wind Co for Energy LLC said in a press statement, “We are delighted to start the early power production of this unique large-scale wind project in KSA — Dumat Al Jandal wind farm. We are now looking forward to successfully reaching, with our partners and contractors, the full commissioning of the project in the months to come.”
Country representative for Masdar Saudi Arabia, Osama Al Othman, said: “Masdar is proud to be leveraging its experience in renewable energy to deliver the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s first wind farm in collaboration with our partners.
“The successful connection of the project to the electricity transmission grid marks an important milestone for this landmark project in [Saudi Arabia] and we look forward to [the] project’s completion in the near future.”
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