Saudi renewables tender: SPPC opens 3,200 MW Round 8

Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has opened qualification for Round 8 of the Saudi renewables tender programme, covering 3,200 MW of solar and wind capacity across three projects.

The round comprises the 900 MW Tamir solar photovoltaic project in the Riyadh region, the 1,000 MW Sharq Al-Amwaj solar PV project in the Asir region and the 1,300 MW Al-Muzairah wind project in the Makkah region, Arab News reported on 11 November. Other outlets transliterate the names as Tumair, East Al Amoah and Al Mozeraah. Solar accounts for 1,900 MW of the total and wind for the remaining 1,300 MW.

The projects are being procured under the National Renewable Energy Program, which the Ministry of Energy leads and supervises. SPPC, which acts as the kingdom’s “Principal Buyer” of electricity, said the programme is designed to harness Saudi Arabia’s renewable resources and reduce the use of liquid fuels in power generation.

What the Round 8 Saudi renewables tender includes

Trade publication pv magazine reported that developers have until 22 November to pre-qualify and that the plants will be built on a build-own-operate basis. It said the 1,000 MW Asir project would be located about 120 km south-east of Tathleeth, while the 900 MW Riyadh project is planned roughly 26 km north of Tumair.

Successful bidders will sign power purchase agreements with SPPC. The company is responsible for preparing preliminary studies, tendering generation projects and signing both power purchase agreements and energy storage service agreements with developer consortiums. It directed interested parties to its website for details of the programme’s projects.

Building on seven earlier rounds

Round 8 extends a procurement pipeline that began with the Sakaka solar plant, the first project awarded under the programme. SPPC launched Round 7 in September 2025, seeking developers for 5.3 GW of capacity. That round included 3.1 GW of solar across four projects (the 1.4 GW Tabarjal 2 scheme in Al Jouf, the 600 MW Mawqaq project in Hail, the 600 MW Tathleeth project in Asir and the 500 MW South Al Ula project in Madinah) and 2.2 GW of wind at the 1.3 GW Bilghah and 900 MW Shagran projects in the Madinah region. Qualified developers were named in January 2026, and bids were submitted in September 2026, according to MEED.

Round 6, launched in September 2024, produced 4.5 GW of awards in October 2025, including 3 GW of solar. Abu Dhabi’s Masdar secured the 1.4 GW Najran project at a levelised cost of electricity of $0.0110 per kWh and the 600 MW Ad Darb project at $0.0136 per kWh, according to SPPC figures. A consortium of TotalEnergies and Al Jomaih Energy & Water Company won the 400 MW Sufun project at $0.0151 per kWh, while Saudi Electricity Company and EDF Power Solutions won the 600 MW Samtah project at $0.0149 per kWh. The 1.5 GW Dawadmi wind project went to a consortium of KEPCO, Nesma Renewable Energy and EtihadWE at $0.0134 per kWh.

Those tariffs sit far below the SAR0.08872 ($0.0236) per kWh agreed for the programme’s first project, the 300 MW Sakaka solar plant awarded to ACWA Power, which recently signed a SAR1.79bn water deal with DEWA. Sakaka was connected to the grid in November 2019. The second round produced a then record-low bid of $0.0104 per kWh for the 600 MW Al Shuaiba project in April 2021.

Why it matters for Gulf energy investors

The programme targets a generation mix in which renewables and energy storage systems account for around 50 per cent of electricity by 2030. Each round of the Saudi renewables tender therefore opens a sizeable block of long-term contracted capacity to regional and international developers, utilities and lenders.

Wind is becoming a regular part of the rounds. The 1,300 MW Al-Muzairah project follows the 1.5 GW Dawadmi wind farm awarded in Round 6 and the 2.2 GW of wind in Round 7, after Round 4 included 1.8 GW of wind capacity. A wind plant in the Makkah region would add to a portfolio that has leaned heavily on photovoltaic sites across the kingdom.

The auction record also offers a clear price signal. Disclosed solar tariffs have fallen from $0.0236 per kWh for Sakaka to $0.0110 per kWh for Najran, a decline of more than 50 per cent. Saudi developers are also expanding abroad: ACWA Power’s partnership with EIG targets a $4bn US power platform.

What happens next

Developers that pre-qualify by the 22 November deadline can expect SPPC to publish a list of qualified bidders before issuing requests for proposals. In Round 7, qualified bidders were announced about four months after the request for qualification.

The official announcement is available from the Saudi Press Agency.