Monday 25 February 2013

Saudi Arabia announces 54GW renewables programme

The world's top oil exporter could soon be one of the world's major producers of renewable electricity under new plans announced recently.

Saudi Arabia aims to install 54GW of renewable energy capacity within the next two decades - at least 23.9GW of renewable power by 2020 and the rest by 2032, according to a new roadmap it published.

Under the Arab state's new Renewable Energy procurement programme, claimed to be one of the largest of its kind, renewable energy developers can apply for tenders for the development of solar farms, wind farms, geothermal and waste-to-energy plants.

King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE), the Government department responsible for the programme, has released details of the process, which will see an initial “introductory” round target of 500MW – 800MW.

Of the proposed installed capacity, solar power will cover the majority of the target, with a total of 41GW worth of installations, 9GW of wind power, 3GW of waste-to-energy plants and 1GW of geothermal power. K.A.CARE aims to award the first few rounds of contracts by 2015 starting this year, with a target of 7GW and believed to be worth around $10 billion (£6.6bn).