(Yicai Global) Feb. 8 -- Chinese solar power plant developer Jinko Power Technology has made a winning USD209 million bid for a project in Saudi Arabia. The firm’s shares rose.

Jinko Power will build, own, and operate the 300-megawatt solar power plant in the desert area of Saad, some 85 kilometers east of Riyadh, the Shanghai-based firm said yesterday. Construction will take about two years and the operating period is estimated at 30 years.

The company’s bid equalled about 1.48 US cents per kilowatt hours, Jinko said, adding that as the project is expected to generate about 876 million kWh annually, the payback period will be about 15 years.

Shares of Jinko Power [SHA: 601778] closed up 1.8 percent at CNY6.99 (USD1.10) today, while the broader Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.9 percent.

The new development is part of a third batch of renewable energy projects launched by the Saudi Arabian government, the company said.

Jinko Power has more than three gigawatts of projects proposed or under construction, including a 2.1 GW plant in Abu Dhabi developed in 2020, which is the world’s single largest solar power project, according to the firm’s website.

Editor: Futura Costaglione