GE commissioned Saudi Arabia's first utility-scale turbine mid-January for Aramco

The early round will be followed by the main tender call in April, energy minister Khalid Al-Falih said.

Aimed at private-sector investors, the wind power projects will be located in Tabuk province, in the northwest of the country.

Successful candidates will sign power purchase agreements with the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).

While the tender terms have not yet been announced, the government expects it to attract some of the lowest prices in the world. The contract terms will be "motivating" and the projects will be of "a significant size", Al-Falih said.

The announcement marks the start of Saudi's ambitious renewable energy programme, which is targetting 9.5GW installed capacity by 2023 as the country seeks to reduce its dependency on oil.

In the meantime, GE commissioned Saudi's first utility-scale turbine mid-January at Saudi Aramco's bulk oil storage plant at Turaif, near the border with Jordan.

Modified to withstand desert conditions, the GE 2.75-120 machine will meet all the plant's electricity needs, with excess power being fed to the grid.