Saudi Arabia has begun the trial of its first wind turbine at Dumat Al-Jandal wind farm in Al-Jouf. The wind turbine will supply roughly 72,000 homes with sustainable, clean energy and will reduce CO2 emissions by almost 1 million tons annually.
The turbines are made up of towers, nacelles, and blades. These turbines will be assembled at Dumat Al-Jandal wind farm, around 900 kilometers north of Riyadh in Al-Jouf. The project will have 99 Vestas wind turbines. Each wind turbine has a hub height of 130 meters and a rotor with a diameter of 150 meters.
This country’s first utility-scale wind-power energy source is being co-developed by EDF Renewables of France in partnership with Masdar, an Abu Dhabi-based company. The EDF Renewables-Masdar consortium was awarded the wind turbine project in January 2019 by The Renewable Energy Project Development Office of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy.
Though the tariff submitted by the bid was the lowest, it was further reduced from $21.3 per megawatt-hour (MWh) to $19.9/MWh at financial close. This reduction in the tariff makes this wind-energy project at Dumat Al-Jandal the most cost-efficient project in the world. As per the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council, Saudi Arabia’s development of its renewable energy sector will create up to 750,000 jobs over the next ten years. The Saudi Kingdom is trying to increase dependence on sustainable energy resources. It is pushing to generate nearly 7% of its total electricity output solely from renewable energy sources by 2030.
The Saudi Kingdom will also benefit from a 20-year agreement for power purchase with the Saudi Power Procurement Company, which is a subsidiary of the Saudi Electricity Company. The Saudi Electricity Company is the Kingdom’s power generation and distribution company.
Saudi Arabia is taking the climate crisis very seriously and, it is committed to deriving 50% of its electricity from renewables by 2030. The Saudi Green Initiative aims to transform into “a global leader in forging a greener world”. Saudi Arabia is committed to becoming carbon neutral to contribute to a sustainable future and preserve nonrenewable fossil fuel resources.