Al Kifah Holding has endorsed an agreement with Spanish multidisciplinary engineering and architecture company, Grupotec, to supply solar power for Saudi Arabia's industrial and commercial sectors, as well as to develop large scale solar projects.

The deal was signed on the sidelines of the Future Projects Forum in Riyadh, which is organised by the Saudi Contractors Authority, Al Kifah and Grupotec will explore the opportunities for the renewable sector by supplying solar power for Phase 1 of the kingdom’s major projects, including Qiddiya, Neom and The Red Sea Project.

Al Kifah also noted the joint venture aligns with the Vision 2030 agenda to diversify the kingdom’s economy optimise the energy mix of Saudi Arabia. The country has set a goal of including 40GW to its energy mix through solar till 2030.

Al Kifah investment manager, Hassan Ali, told Construction Week: “We selected Grupotec through the alignment of our capabilities and to pursue opportunities of the renewable sector in Saudi Arabia.”

Commenting on the joint venture, Grupotec business development director, Azahar Gomes, mentioned: “For us, this is a huge step to have a presence in Saudi Arabia with a very well-known partner in Al-Kifah. We have been very successful with utility-scale around the world, although we are Spanish, our biggest portfolio is abroad.

She added: “We were very keen in pushing opportunities into the Middle East and we connected with Al-Kifah in London for the deal to be completed. We had a lot of synergies to work together in the region.”