Saudi Arabia will “very soon” announce a solar energy project that will produce electricity at the lowest cost per kilowatt, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman, Saudi energy minister, said on Thursday.
During the “Don’t Forget Our Planet” conference, organized by Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative Institute (FII-I), which discussed environmental sustainability, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman said that the Kingdom aims to produce 50 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030, stressing the Kingdom is planning to expand the use of wind energy.
With predicted electricity demand surpassing 120 GW by 2032, Prince Abdulaziz said that work is currently underway to analyze solar energy projects that will produce the lowest cost per kilowatt of electricity in the world.
He added that Saudi Arabia is now among the most serious and committed to energy efficiency programs.
The kingdom is currently in the process of activating many programs, including increasing the use of electricity by 30 percent through renewable energy, while 50 percent will be generated through hydrocarbon sources, adding that work is also underway to take advantage of the wind energy project to harness it in generating power, he revealed during the conference.
The kingdom will not back down from its commitment to the energy efficiency project. In fact, it has become a role model for high commitment in all related applications. Saudi Arabia is currently working seriously and with a high commitment to a set of energy efficiency programs, including a national energy efficiency program, energy price reform program, and a program for sustainable energy, Prince Abdulaziz asserted.
Despite Saudi Arabia’s immense hydrocarbon reserves, the kingdom plans to wean itself off fossil fuels as part of its Vision 2030, which sets an initial target of generating 9.5 gigawatts of renewable energy. It will seek to localise a significant portion of the renewable energy value chain in the Saudi economy, including research and development, and manufacturing, among other stages.
