Saudi Arabia Wind Farm claims World Record Low Energy Cost

Saudi Arabia’s 400MW Dumat Al Jandal onshore wind farm has announced what it says is a world record-low onshore wind levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of 1.99 US cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

The Dumat Al Jandal onshore wind farm – set to be located more than 800kms north of Riyadh in the Al Jouf region of north-western Saudi Arabia – will be the country’s first wind project and the largest in the Middle East. The developing consortium – led by French renewable energy group EDF Renewables and renewable energy developer Masdar, a subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company – was awarded the project in January at an already-impressive low price of 2.1 cents/kWh, a record for the Middle East and North Africa region. It was not until late-July, however, that the developing-consortium completed the financing for the project and announced financial close, during which time the project had made a 6.5% improvement on LCoE, bringing it down from 2.13 US cents/kWh to what the developers are now describing as a world-record 1.99 cents/kWh. Construction of the project is expected to begin shortly, with commercial operations due for start in the first quarter of 2022. Further, the project is expected to create 800 jobs during the construction phase of the project and another 150 jobs during operation. Ultimately, the 400 MW wind project will supply electricity enough for the equivalent of 70,000 average Saudi homes.

Source : https://bit.ly/2MoE8z1