Al Kahfah is one of the three major solar PV Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects being led by Badeel and ACWA Power. This solar plant will provide clean energy to the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) as part of the renewable energy projects essential to meet the targets of Vision 2030 and the Ministry of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Program to increase renewables in the nation’s energy mix to 50% by 2030. Global construction giant L&T has also been awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the Al Kahfah Solar Power Plant.
The Al Kahfah project will deploy Nextracker’s NX Horizon-XTR smart solar tracker systems. The area the solar plant will occupy is dominated by a hilly, hard-soil land surface that would typically require a combination of explosives and grading machines to flatten the land the new solar tracking system will cover. First delivered in 2018 and proven on dozens of utility scale projects successfully operating around the world, Nextracker’s all-terrain solar tracker system can conform to the natural terrain to reduce the need for costly land grading while significantly reducing environmental impact.
Extended domestic content capacity
The Al Kahfah project in Saudi Arabia represents Nextracker’s largest deployment of its NX Horizon-XTR solar tracker technology in a single order to date. This planned Al Kahfah installation has also contributed to Nextracker achieving a significant milestone in the growing Middle East, India, and Africa (MEIA) solar energy market. This 1.17 GW order further reinforces Nextracker’s commitment to this market, having over 10 GW of smart solar trackers either operational or under fulfilment across the region.
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As part of its support to ACWA Power and the Al Kahfah project, Nextracker has extended its domestic content and capacity development program in the Kingdom. Nextracker has engaged a range of local partners in providing raw material and manufacturing support for its trackers at plants across the region.
Nextracker previously partnered with ACWA Power and L&T on the Sudair Solar PV Plant (906 MW) to provide its intelligent solar trackers boosting energy generation for these plants. (hcn)
