23 utility project developers have been prequalified for the fifth round of solar projects coming up across Saudi Arabia, according to the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC).

The new projects, once complete, will add 3700MW of solar capacity to the Kingdom’s energy sector, including the 2000MWac capacity Al Sadawi IPP in the Eastern province; 1000MWac Al Masa’a IPP in Hail province; 400MWac Al Henakiyah 2 IPP in Madinah province, and 300MWac Rabigh 2 IPP in the Makkah Province.

According to a statement from the SPPC, the projects will be implemented under the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP), which is being led and supervised by the Ministry of Energy. The SPPC noted that under the NREP scheme, it will be responsible for the predevelopment, tendering and subsequent off-taking of the energy from the projects. To date, SPPC has awarded over 12.6GW of renewable energy capacity under NREP.

The list of the pre-qualified bidders comprises global firms including: EDF; Total Energies; Marubeni, Sumitomo, Itochu and Jera; Samsung C&T Corporation; Korea Electric Power Corporation; GEK Terna; B. Grimm Power; Gulf Energy Development Public Company; Power Construction Corporation of China; Spic Huanghe Hydropower Development, and Jinko Power.

Major regional firms which have now made it to the prequalified list include: Masdar; Kahrabel; BGL Renewable Energy Systems Installation, and Nebras Power.

The SPPC also said that of the 23 companies which had expressed interest in the Round 5 projects, five were Saudi firms: Al Jomaih Energy & Water Company; Alfanar; Saudi Electricity Company; FAS Energy and Nesma Renewable Energy.