Saudi Power Procurement Co. (SPPC) has launched the eighth round of the Saudi government’s National Renewable Energy Program (NREP). It has issued a request for qualification (RFQ) for 1.9 GW of solar capacity across two projects.
The 1 GW EAM independent power producer (IPP) project will be located approximately 120 km southeast of Tathleeth, in Saudi Arabia’s Asir province.
The 900 MW TMR IPP project will be located approximately 26 km north of Tumair, 62 km east of Al Majmaah and 170 km north of Riyadh, in Riyadh province.
The selected developers must develop and build the facilities on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis. They have until Nov. 22 to pre-qualify for the tender.
SPPC launched the seventh round in September 2025, seeking developers for 3.1 GW of solar capacity across four projects. These include the 1.4 GW Tabarjal 2 project in Al Jouf province, the 600 MW Mawqaq project in Hail province, the 600 MW Tathleeth project in Asir province and the 500 MW South Al Ula project in Madinah province. SPPC announced the qualified developers in January 2026, with bids submitted in September 2026.
The sixth round, launched in September 2024, resulted in the award of 3 GW of solar capacity across four projects in October 2025. Masdar secured the 1.4 GW Najran project at a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of $0.0110/kWh and the 600 MW Ad Darb project at $0.0136/kWh. The 600 MW Samtah project was awarded at $0.0149/kWh, while a consortium of TotalEnergies and Al Jomaih Energy & Water Company secured the 400 MW Sufun project at $0.0151/kWh.
The fifth round, launched in November 2023, covered 3.7 GW of solar capacity across four projects. These included the 2 GW Al Sadawi plant in eastern Saudi Arabia, the 1 GW Al Masa’a project in Hail province, the 400 MW Al Henakiyah 2 project in Madinah province and the 300 MW Rabigh 2 project in Makkah province. In October 2024, SPPC announced shortlisted bids, including a $0.0129/kWh offer for Al Sadawi from a consortium of Masdar and Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO).
The fourth round, launched in September 2022, included 1.5 GW of solar capacity across two projects, alongside 1.8 GW of wind capacity. The solar component comprised the 1.1 GW Al Henakiyah project in Madinah province and a 400 MW solar plant in Tabarjal, northern Saudi Arabia.
The third round, launched in January 2020, sought to allocate 1.2 GW of solar capacity across four projects with capacities of 700 MW, 300 MW, 120 MW and 80 MW. The procurement process, overseen by the Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO), required selected projects to contain at least 17% local content and attracted 49 prequalified developers.
The second round, launched in January 2019, initially targeted 1.515 GW of solar capacity across seven projects ranging from 20 MW to 600 MW. It attracted expressions of interest from more than 250 companies. The procurement exercise subsequently produced a record-low solar tariff of $0.0104/kWh for the 600 MW Al Shuaiba project in April 2021.
The first round resulted in the award of the 300 MW Sakaka solar project to ACWA Power at a tariff of SAR 0.08872/kWh ($0.0236/kWh). The project, which was connected to the grid in November 2019, was Saudi Arabia’s first utility-scale solar plant procured under the NREP.
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