Masdar and EDF have won a tender to build a 400MW wind farm in the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia, providing power at a cost of 2.13 cents per kWhr. With an installed capacity of 400MW, the $500 million project will be Saudi Arabia’s first wind farm and the largest in the Middle East. The consortium submitted the most cost-competitive bid ($21.3 per MWh).
Saudi plans are part of an overall transition play by the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) region to address the changing nature of the energy markets, and the opportunity to diversify economically. Overall, under current plans, the region will install 7GW of new power generation capacity from renewable sources by the early 2020s. Achieving stated 2030 targets will bring significant economic benefits to the region including the creation of more than 220 000 new jobs whilst saving over 354 million barrels of oil equivalent (MBOE) in regional power sectors. Forbes