CAIRO: The Saudi Arabian government has announced an ambitious plan to boost solar power in the country, aiming to install 41 gigawatts of solar power by 2032, the governments of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy announced. According to the government, the ultra-conservative Gulf kingdom is planning to place more focus on renewable energy generation. In addition to more solar power, it intends to add wind, geothermal, waste-to-energy and nuclear plants to its energy mix in the future. The program, said to be worth tens of millions of dollars, aims to “catapult Saudi Arabia into the group of global leaders in renewable-energy development.” Of the 41 GW of solar, photovoltaics is expected to comprise 16 GW, while concentrated solar power (CSP) will encompass 25 GW. “The CSP plants, with their higher capacity factor than PV, are foreseen as a bridge between base-load technologies (including geothermal, waste-to-energy and nuclear) and PV, which will provide coverage for daytime demand,” explained Apricum, a strategy consulting and transaction advisory firm specialized in renewable energy. KA-CARE announced its plans to turn Saudi Arabia into “the Kingdom of Sustainable Energy” at the Saudi Solar Energy Forum in Riyadh, yesterday, May 8. In a statement released, Apricum said, “The main objectives of the program are a reduction in oil burned for power production as well as the establishment of a local solar industry and the creation of jobs.”
