The Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) has awarded leading Saudi construction group Alfanar to develop a 110 MW solar photovoltaic power plant project, which will be a part of a floating solar panel system. The contract value is said to be around SR1.2 billion ($320 million).

 

Under this SWCC project, a 380 kV substation will also be set up along with a 172 km of overhead transmission lines. 

 

Announcing the contract award, SWCC said the solar plant will play a critical role in powering the desalination plant with renewable energy, thereby reducing the use of 410,000 barrels of crude oil per year.

 

The signing ceremony was attended by the Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Abdulrahman Al Fadhli, who is also the chairman of the board at SWCC, along with SWCC Governor Abdullah Al Abdulkarim and Alfanar’s Managing Director Sabah Al Mutlaq and Executive Vice President Amer Al Ajmi.

 

Within Saudi Arabia, Alfanar is aligned with the Saudi Green Initiative, which is a part of Vision 2030 and is investing strategically in renewable energy technologies, such as solar and wind energy.

 

The Jubail desalination plant, which boasts a production capacity of 1 million cu m per day, is one of the largest water desalination plants in the world.-TradeArabia News Service