NADEC's 30-MW solar farm in Saudi Arabia starts operation

Works on a 30-MW solar farm in the region of Haradh in eastern Saudi Arabia have been finalised after several delays, and the plant will start delivering electricity to the National Agricultural Development Co (TADAWUL:6010), or NADEC, under a power purchase agreement (PPA).

Construction works as part of the 20-MW second phase of the project have been completed now, after the first portion of 10 MW was put into operation at end of August, NADEC said on Monday.

In July 2019, the Saudi agricultural and food-processing company agreed to off-take the electricity from the Haradh project from French energy group Engie SA (EPA:ENGI) at a price of SAR 0.094 (USD 0.024/EUR 0.020) per kWh.

The PPA will run for 25 years.

The Haradh park was supposed to go online in October 2020 but its commissioning was delayed amid the pandemic.

The solar farm is integrated with NADEC's other energy generation resources. The company said that the solar power addition will help it reduce its fuel consumption by 16 million litres (4.22 million gallons), cut energy costs by SAR 4.1 million or 4%, and lower carbon emissions by 53 million kg per year.

(SAR 1.0 = USD 0.266/EUR 0.230)

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