A field of solar panels at Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz City of Sciences and Technology. The kingdom plans to generate 50% of its power from renewables by 2030. Reuters
A field of solar panels at Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz City of Sciences and Technology. The kingdom plans to generate 50% of its power from renewables by 2030. Reuters
A field of solar panels at Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz City of Sciences and Technology. The kingdom plans to generate 50% of its power from renewables by 2030. Reuters
A field of solar panels at Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz City of Sciences and Technology. The kingdom plans to generate 50% of its power from renewables by 2030. Reuters

Masdar-led consortium reaches financial close on solar project in Jeddah


Deena Kamel
  • English
  • Arabic

A consortium led by Abu Dhabi renewable energy company Masdar and France's EDF Renewables reached financial close on a 300 megawatt solar power plant project in Jeddah.

The consortium, which also includes Saudi Arabia-based Nesma Company, is starting construction on the plant that is scheduled to begin operation in 2022, the companies said in a statement on Saturday.

The solar plant will be located in Third Jeddah Industrial City.

The Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO), a department within Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy, awarded the utility-scale photovoltaic Jeddah project to the consortium after it submitted the lowest bid of 60.9042 Saudi riyals ($16.24) per megawatt hour.

"Through its National Renewable Energy Programme, Saudi Arabia is fast developing into a global renewable energy player, and Masdar will continue to work closely with the Saudi government and our partners here to help the kingdom achieve its clean energy transition, while reducing environmental impacts in line with the Saudi Green Initiative," Mohamed Al Ramahi, chief executive of Masdar, said.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter of oil, is expanding its renewable project portfolio as it seeks to green its power mix and export more barrels of oil. The kingdom plans to add gas and renewables capacity equating to one million barrels of oil per day by 2030, according to the kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The Crown Prince comments came on April 8 during the signing of seven power purchase agreements for new solar photovoltaic plants in Saudi Arabia following the inauguration of the Sakaka plant. The 300MW Sakaka power plant is the kingdom's first-ever solar utility-scale project.

Saudi Arabia aims to generate 50 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

In 2019, a consortium led by EDF Renewables in partnership with Masdar was selected to build a 400MW utility-scale wind farm in Dumat Al Jandal – Saudi Arabia’s first wind energy project and the largest in the Middle East. The plant will start operation and generate carbon-free electricity by late 2022.

FFP EXPLAINED

What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.

What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.

What are the penalties?
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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While you're here
The specs

Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

Available: Now

The schedule

December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club

December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq

December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm

December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition

December 13: Falcon beauty competition

December 14 and 20: Saluki races

December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm

December 16 - 19: Falconry competition

December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am

December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am

December 22: The best herd of 30 camels

Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

Another way to earn air miles

In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.

An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.

“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
AL%20BOOM
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
HOW TO WATCH

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UAE central contracts

Full time contracts

Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza, Mohammed Usman, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Sultan Ahmed, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid

Part time contracts

Aryan Lakra, Ansh Tandon, Karthik Meiyappan, Rahul Bhatia, Alishan Sharafu, CP Rizwaan, Basil Hameed, Matiullah, Fahad Nawaz, Sanchit Sharma

MATCH INFO

Burnley 1 (Brady 89')

Manchester City 4 (Jesus 24', 50', Rodri 68', Mahrez 87')

The fake news generation

288,000 – the number of posts reported as hate speech that were deleted by Facebook globally each month in May and June this year

11% – the number of Americans who said they trusted the news they read on Snapchat as of June 2017, according to Statista. Over a quarter stated that they ‘rarely trusted’ the news they read on social media in general

31% - the number of young people in the US aged between 10 and 18 who said they had shared a news story online in the last six months that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate

63% - percentage of Arab nationals who said they get their news from social media every single day.

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.