Dumat Al Jandal, the Middle East’s largest wind farm and the first in Saudi Arabia, is now connected to the grid and has produced its first carbon-free megawatt-hours of energy. The 400-megawatt (MW) utility-scale wind power project is being developed by a consortium led by EDF Renewables and Masdar. The wind farm consists of 99 wind turbines from supplier and EPC contractor Vestas, each with a power output of 4.2MW. Construction began in September 2019 and the wind turbine erection works are near completion. When complete, the wind farm will generate carbon-free energy, powering up to 70,000 Saudi households, while saving 988,000 tonnes of CO2 per year in support of the kingdom’s climate change mitigation goals.
The successful connection of the project to the electricity transmission grid marks an important milestone for this landmark project in the kingdom and look forward to project’s completion soon. The wind farm, which has created more than 600 local jobs during the construction phase, will supply electricity under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Saudi Power Procurement Company, a subsidiary of the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), the Saudi power generation and distribution company.