Saudi Electricity Company: Grid-Tied Solar PV for Dhahran and Qassim Transmission Stations
Project: Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), Grid-Tied Solar PV for Transmission Stations
Service: Solar
Location: South Dhahran and Al Qassim, Saudi Arabia
Client: Saudi Electricity Company (SEC)
Status: Completed
Few clients validate a solar EPC provider’s technical credibility quite like a national utility. Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), the Kingdom’s primary electricity provider, engaged ZOMCO x FREE energy to deliver a multi-site solar PV program spanning two distinct transmission station sites: a roof-mounted, grid-connected system at the South Dhahran facility and a ground-mounted, grid-connected installation at the Qassim site.
Both stations previously depended entirely on the SEC grid to power their own operational loads, including lighting, pumps, power tools, oil filters, HVAC, cranes, and electromechanical instruments. Because the client was itself the national grid operator, the engagement demanded an especially high standard of technical compliance, interconnection safety, and system documentation, with every element of design and installation required to satisfy SEC’s own internal engineering standards for grid-connected generation assets. The team worked under the direct oversight of SEC’s Asset Maintenance Department in Dammam, led by Transmission Engineer Hitham H. Gadaf, delivering both installations to specification.
Technical delivery covered comprehensive site assessments for rooftop and ground area optimization, grid access evaluation, and technology selection to minimize electrical losses, with the Dhahran installation contributing 245.5 kWp from rooftop-mounted arrays and the Qassim site contributing 110.7 kWp from a ground-mounted system, for a combined capacity of roughly 356.7 kWp. Neither system includes battery storage, converting sunlight directly into electricity fed straight into the grid.
The combined deployment now generates approximately SAR 102,960 in annual cost savings and 572 MWh of clean electricity per year for Saudi Electricity Company, while reducing CO2 emissions by an estimated 397 tonnes annually, tangible proof that solar self-generation delivers real value even for the organization that operates the national grid itself. Delivering solar infrastructure directly for a national utility provider requires meeting some of the most exacting technical and regulatory standards in the market, and doing so across two separate sites underscores the team’s ability to execute solar PV projects that satisfy the highest tier of grid-interconnection and quality assurance requirements in Saudi Arabia.
