The Great Arch within the mountains of Jeddah in the Tabuk region of Saudi Arabia (Image: almozinisaleh via AdobeStock - stock.adobe.com)

French engineering and project management company Assystem has won a deal to conduct a series of pre-development studies for up to 20GW of solar energy plants at Saudi Arabia鈥檚 NEOM special economic zone.

The solar parks could cover up to 420 sq km of space across seven planned solar photovoltaic parks in the Tabuk and Duba regions in the north west of the country.

Assystem will conduct a site assessment study, preliminary design of the parks, master planning, environmental surveys, social impact studies and permitting studies.

The company will also generate geotechnical, geophysical, topographical, hydrological, glint and glare, and corrosion assessments, energy yield calculations, and advanced design of the parks.

Kerem Sadiklar, Assystem鈥檚 global head of siting and environmental services, said: 鈥淭his project marks one of the first steps towards realizing the deployment of solar PV on a truly massive scale 鈥� directly contributing to NEOM鈥檚 ambitious 100% renewable energy goal. Assystem is proud to be delivering its high-quality siting and environmental services on behalf of such an exciting and significant initiative.鈥�