Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power announced the start of “Initial Commercial Operation” at Saudi Arabia’s 1.5GW Sudair solar PV plant on 28 September. Operations have now begun at the facility’s 750MW first phase. Sudair is the third commercial-scale solar PV plant to start up in the kingdom, following 300MW Sakaka in 2019 and the 300MW Rabigh plant in April, and is by far the largest to-date.
Sudair is being developed by Acwa Power (35%), Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF’s Badeel subsidiary (35%) and Saudi Aramco (30%). While Sudair is the largest operational solar plant in the country, a larger-still project is under development – the same consortium of Acwa, Badeel and Aramco are developing the 2GW Al Shuaibah 2 plant on the Red Sea coast, which is due online in 2025 (MEES, 18 August). (CONTINUED - 151 WORDS)