Saudi Arabia Awards 8.4GW Gas-Fired Capacity

3 Nov 2023 Issue: 66 / 44 By: Jamie Ingram

Saudi Arabia has ambitious renewables plans, but the scale of its economic expansion strategy means more gas-fired capacity is also required. The winners of 7.2GW of freshly-awarded capacity have now been announced, with another 1.2GW approved.

The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has announced the winning bids for four combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants with a combined capacity of 7.2GW. A further 1.2GW will come from an expansion project at Rabigh Power Plant. While Saudi Arabia has extremely ambitious renewable energy plans, it still plans for a 50:50 split between gas-fired and renewable electricity generation by 2030 and is investing accordingly.

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 program entails a near-complete re-wiring of the country’s economy, driven by huge planned private and non-oil sector growth which will drive a considerable increase in electricity demand. Nationwide electricity consumption increased to a record 309.5TWh in 2022 according to state regulator WERA, and Saudi thinktank Kapsarc expects this to rise by another 18% to 365TWh in 2030 (see chart 1). (CONTINUED - 701 WORDS)