Saudi Arabia has planned to build a USD500 billion futuristic city called Neom, for which the first tender, said to range between 400 MW to 800 MW, to build a renewable power grid is expected to be issued in 2022.
Neom Energy, the developer of the city, is expected to issue a tender for the technical design of the high voltage power grid later this year. The city will be built along Saudi Arabia’s borders with Jordan and just across the narrow Strait of Aqaba from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula by the end of the first quarter of 2026. It is expected that the city will span across 26,500 square km and have the world’s largest green hydrogen projects. The power consumption for the planned region is expected to be around 50 TWh to 60 TWh. The energy industry activities will include green hydrogen project and renewables-based desalination plants for both public consumption and for use in electrolysis to produce green hydrogen. Neom will look to tap 8 GW to 10 GW of wind power and between 16 GW and 20 GW of solar power generation.