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ABU DHABI / Reuters
Saudi Arabia will launch a renewable energy programme in coming weeks that is expected to involve investment of between $30 billion and $50 billion by 2023, Energy Minister Khalid
al-Falih said on Monday.
Falih, speaking at an energy industry event in Abu Dhabi, said Riyadh would start the first round of bidding within weeks for projects under the programme, which would produce 10 gigawatts of power.
Saudi Arabia has been for years trying to diversify its energy mix so that it can export more of its oil, rather than burning it at power and water desalination plants, but progress has been slow.
Power demand in the desert kingdom is growing 8 percent annually, forcing state-run Saudi Electricity Co, the Gulf’s largest utility company, to spend billions of dollars on projects to add capacity.
The kingdom produces very little renewable energy, representing less than 1 percent of the total produced, but under an economic reform programme approved by King Salman last year, it targets renewable energy contributing 3,450 megawatts to the national energy mix by 2020, equating to 4 percent of energy use in the kingdom.
Falih told the conference Saudi Arabia was working on ways to connect its renewable energy projects with Yemen, Jordan and Egypt. “We will connect to Africa to exchange non-fossil sources of energy,” he said, without elaborating.
Its finances strained by low oil prices, Riyadh wants to conduct many of its future infrastructure projects through partnerships in which private companies from within the kingdom and abroad would bear much of the cost and risk. In addition to the renewable programme, Riyadh is in the early stages of feasibility and design studies for its first two commercial nuclear reactors, which will total 2.8 gigawatts, Falih said.