By: Mohamed Idris
Riyadh - Mubasher: The Saudi energy minister revealed that launching the King Salman program for renewable energy will produce 10 gigawatts (GW) from solar, wind, and hydroelectric power, across the kingdom.
Khaled Al Falih also told reporters on the sidelines of the Saudi Arabia Renewable Energy Investment Forum on Monday that the 10 GW will represent 10% of Saudi Arabia’s energy mix that totals 75 GW, and will be increased in the upcoming years to 100 GW.
The program will include three stages and 30 projects, with investments from the private sector, and will be carried out within the next eight years.
After the 10 GW phase is completed, the next phase will be studied, noting that renewable energy is safe and cheap.
As per the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the ministry indicated that the first phase of the programs targets producing 3.45 GW of renewable energy by 2020, and 9.5 GW by 2023.
In February 2017, the Saudi government opened an auction to produce 700 MW of renewable energy capacity; a first step towards meeting its strategic targets of generating 9.5 GW by 2030.
The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources said last year that it plans to launch the country’s first renewable energy project in 2017, according to local newspapers.
The ministry then said that energy consumption will triple in the next 14 years.
The renewable energy project come in line with the government efforts to produce 9,500 megawatts (MW) of electricity from solar and wind sources, as the Saudi Vision 2030 strategy sets 9.5 GW as an ‘initial target’ to help build the renewables sector.
