Dumat Al-Jandal Wind Farm facts for kids
Dumat Al-Jandal Wind Farm is a really important project in Saudi Arabia. It's the very first wind farm built in the country! You can find it in a place called Dumat Al-Jandal, which is in the northwest part of Saudi Arabia. That's about 1046 kilometers (or 650 miles) north of the capital city, Riyadh.
This amazing wind farm cost about $500 million to build. Once it's all finished, it will create enough clean, sustainable energy to power around 70,000 homes! Imagine that – all from the wind. Experts chose Dumat Al-Jandal for this project because studies showed it has really strong and steady winds. This means the farm can produce a lot of electricity, about 1.4 Terawatts on average. A Terawatt is a huge amount of power, showing just how much energy this farm will make!
The project also set a new record for how cheap it can make electricity. It produces power for just 2.3 cents per kilowatt-hour. This was the lowest price ever for a project like this in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa! The Dumat Al-Jandal wind farm will provide electricity for 20 years, thanks to an agreement with the Saudi Energy Purchase Company. This company works with the Saudi Electricity Company, which handles all the power in Saudi Arabia.
Dumat Al-Jandal: A Top Renewable Energy Project
The Dumat Al-Jandal wind farm project won a special award in 2019. It was named the "Best Renewable Project" in the Middle East and Africa by an organization called Project Finance International (PFI). This award was given because the project achieved a new record for the lowest cost of electricity generation. It produces power for an incredibly low price of $0.0199 per kilowatt-hour! This shows how efficient and cost-effective this wind farm is.
Building the Wind Farm
Work on the Dumat Al-Jandal wind farm started in the middle of 2019. The plan was for the farm to begin making electricity by the end of 2020. The entire project is expected to be fully completed and operational by the year 2022. This will be a big step for Saudi Arabia in using more clean energy.
