ME's Largest Windfarm in Saudi Arabia 50% Complete

Saudi Arabia’s first and the Middle East's largest utility-scale wind farm has reached its 50% completion milestone. Danish wind energy company Vestas, which is supplying the wind turbines for the more than 400 megawatts (MW) capacity Dumat Al Jandal wind farm project in the Al-Jouf province, said in a statement that it has installed half of the 99 wind turbines of the project, which is expected to start commercial operations in 2022.

The turbines and their components first arrived at Duba Port in September 2020. Muhamed Bou-Zeid, General Manager of Vestas MENA said: "The Dumat Al Jandal wind farm is the first step to diversifying not only the energy sector but also the renewable energy sector by adding wind power into the energy mix and ultimately creating three times more work opportunities for the local talent."

A consortium led by EDF Renewables and Masdar was awarded the project by the Saudi Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources in January 2019. Vestas was awarded the Engineering, Procurement and Construction order by the consortium in July 2019, inclusive of the supply and installation of 99 V150-4.2MW wind turbines, and a 20-year Active Output Management 4000 (AOM 4000) service agreement for operation and maintenance, according to the statement.

The project will supply electricity under a 20-year purchase agreement (PPA) with the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), a subsidiary of the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC). The Dumat Al-Jandal wind farm will contribute to the kingdom’s 16 gigawatt wind power capacity targets under Vision 2030 and will provide clean energy to 70,000 Saudi households and displace 988,000 tons of carbon emissions every year, the statement said.