Saudi Arabia Aims for 41 GW of Solar Power by 2032

Saudi Arabia is making a major push make renewables, especially solar power, a bigger part of its energy mix. The oil-rich country is aiming to have 41 GW of solar power capacity installed by 2032 as well as a host of other renewable energy projects like wind, geothermal and waste-to-fuel plants.

The country is planning to install 16 GW of solar photovoltaic power and 25 GW of concentrated solar power. This breakdown makes sense with CSP being very well suited for hot desert environments.

The country hopes to cut down on its oil use and increase its presence in the solar power industry. Saudi Arabia is opening up bidding for the projects in two different rounds with project sizes ranging from 5 MW and up to determine who will build the installations.

via PV Magazine

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Great idea, but a few kinks
written by Sean Seemann, May 16, 2012

I grew up in Saudi (father works for Saudi Aramco) and have watched a couple projects like this pop up over the past couple years. Most recently they installed a very large PV system over a parking lot at the company's headquarters. It is a great application of the tech but they can't keep the panels clean. Saudi has really bad dust storms and the system is constantly covered and way under producing. There is a massive solar resource in the kingdom, but there are still a couple environmental factors that are going to have to be overcome before it can implement large scale renewable production.

Cleaning panels
written by Martin, May 22, 2012

Cleaning the panels seems like a job that could be done by the large number of unemployed youth. I think that would be simple to fix. However, I have never experienced a sandstorm in Saudi, so I could be wrong.

In any case I'm glad that Saudi-Arabia finally wants to invest in the future.

Fantastic news!
written by Richard Davine, May 26, 2012

Wow that's awesome that the worlds biggest producers of oil are pursuing such an aggressive renewables target. To me that signifies that they recognize the shift to the future is renewables and that the end of oil use is neigh. Hopefully their waste-to-fuel is ethanol or methane and isn't burning the municipal rubbish.
Great story Megan.

Oil Producers that use alternative energy
written by Tom Jolly, May 28, 2012

The Saudi commitment is almost as odd as the fact that Texas (arguably more committed to oil production than any state in the US) now leads the way in wind-energy production in the US by more than 2:1 versus even California. I hope this trend continues.

...
written by Yasmin Weber, October 19, 2012

They have the advance that there is 365 day a year good weather. So they have to use it and make a big profit of it.

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Saudi Arabia Aims for 41 GW of Solar Power by 2032

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