The Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO) of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources (MEIM) has launched the second round of its solar power tender program for 1.51 GW of solar projects.

REPDO is inviting expressions of interest (EoI) for the development and construction of seven new solar PV independent power producer projects. The capacity of the projects are said to range between 20 MW to 600 MW with the last-date for developers to express their interest being February 14.  The projects include Qurrayat (200 MW), Madinah (50 MW), Rafha (45 MW), Alfaisaliah (600 MW), Rabigh (300 MW), Jeddah (300 MW) and Mahad Duhab (20 MW).

With Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy plan in its second round, the country aims to achieve over 25 GW of wind and solar power generation in the next five years and 58.7 GW over the next decade, of which 40 GW is expected to be generated from solar energy and a further 16 GW from onshore wind.

According to a statement released, the seven projects will supply enough energy to power 226,500 households and will be generating over 4500 jobs during its construction, operation and maintenance. It also said that the Kingdom aims to allocate 200 GW of solar energy capability in the next decade, spanning the entire value chain from local manufacturing to project development, domestically and abroad.