France's EDF, TotalEnergies awarded Saudi solar tenders during Macron visit (updated)

Veolia Environnement SA

03/12/2024 14:47

(Recasts paragraph 1 to include Total and EDF, adds details in
2, 5, 6; context in 3, Veolia project in 7)
    By America Hernandez
       PARIS/CAIRO, Dec 3 (Reuters) - TotalEnergies will build
an 0.3 gigawatt (GW) solar park in Saudi Arabia, while EDF
Renewables will build two solar parks totalling 1.4 GW, as part
of a series of deals announced on Tuesday during a visit by
French President Emmanuel Macron to Riyadh.
    The French companies entered into 25-year power purchase
agreements with the Saudi Power Procurement Company for the
projects, which were awarded on a build-own-operate model as
part of the kingdom's fifth renewable tender round.
    Saudi Arabia is aiming to build 130 GW of renewable capacity
by 2030, up from less than 5 GW today, with the International
Energy Agency estimating the kingdom will be responsible for a
third of the growth in renewables for the entire Middle East and
North Africa region over the next five years.
    EDF won tenders to build the 1 GW Al-Masaa and 0.4 GW
Al-Henakiyah 2 solar parks in partnership with the Chinese State
Power Investment Corporation (SPIC).
    TotalEnergies  TTEF.PA  will build the 0.3 GW park in the
Rabigh Industrial City in partnership with local Saudi developer
Aljomaih Energy and Water Company. It is set to come online in
2026, TotalEnergies said in a separate release.
    TotalEnergies has identified the Middle East as a priority
location for its future green growth. It is already building
Saudi Arabia's 119 MW Wadi Al Dawasir solar park set to come
online in early 2025, and is a shareholder in the
business-to-business solar firm SAFEER.
    An agreement between Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund
(PIF), wholly-owned subsidiary Saudi Investment Recycling
Company (SIRC) and Veolia  VIE.PA  for the incorporation of
waste management and recycling in the kingdom, was also
announced. 
    The value of the agreements was not disclosed, though Saudi
Arabia has previously said the entire 3.7 GW renewable round
would attract more than 8 billion Saudi riyals ($2.1 billion).

 (Reporting by Nadine Awadalla and Nayera Abdallah in Riyadh and
America Hernandez in Paris. Writing by Menna Alaa and America
Hernandez. Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)
 ((mailto:Menna.AlaaElDin@thomsonreuters.com;))