Saudi Arabia Plans Trillion Riyal Clean Power Investments

3 Feb 2023 Issue: 66 / 5 By: Jamie Ingram

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister says the kingdom is walking the walk when it comes to investing in renewable energy capacity. Satellite imagery shows accelerating progress at key under-construction solar PV plants.

Saudi Arabia is to invest more than SR1 trillion ($270bn) into its power sector by 2030 in order to boost clean energy generation capacity and expand and modernize its transmission and distribution networks. Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Al Saud emphasized the kingdom’s ambitious clean energy plans during this week’s IKTVA 2023 Forum in Dhahran, pointing to the accelerating renewables rollout and plans to build the kingdom’s first nuclear power plant.

The kingdom’s medium-term strategy to clean up its power sector has long been clear. It intends for the powergen mix to be split 50:50 between gas and renewables by 2030, entailing the development of 58.7GW of renewable capacity – any future nuclear power plants would not be operational until after 2030. This will displace more than 1mn b/d of oil from the power and water sector, freeing volumes up to be exported to global markets. (CONTINUED - 795 WORDS)