Saudi Arabia, with 20 percent of the world’s oil reserves, is targeting renewable energy and nuclear power in a $100 billion spending drive aimed at meeting a surge in electricity demand and curbing its dependence on crude.
The kingdom sees solar power and other non-hydrocarbon sources as crucial parts of a plan to boost generating capacity by 50 percent in this decade, said Abdullah al-Shehri, governor of the Electricity and Co-Generation Regulatory Authority. The government may announce details of a renewable-energy strategy at a conference in the capital Riyadh on April 3.
Persian Gulf oil producers need to produce more electricity to sustain a regional economic growth rate averaging about 10 percent a year, Jarmo Kotilaine, chief economist at National Commercial Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, said on March 29. At the same time, countries in the region are hungry for new ways to generate power because they prefer exporting crude to maximize income and allocating natural gas to make petrochemicals.
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