Has Saudi Arabia Seen The Renewable Energy Light? | Green Prophet

Has Saudi Arabia Seen The Renewable Energy Light? | Green Prophet

Possessing a fifth of the world’s proven oil reserves, Saudi Arabia has long been synonymous with the petroleum industry, but this is not stopping the kingdom from striving to diversify its energy sources. Renewable sources could account for up to 10 percent of Saudi Arabia’s power output by 2020, an executive from the state-owned national oil company Aramco said. “The proposed target is between 7 to 10% of peak electricity generated by renewables by 2020,” Ahmad al-Khowaiter, director of new business evaluation department at Aramco told Reuters.

The renewable energy would most likely be solar energy, he said, and Saudi Arabia will start exporting solar energy by 2020. Khowaiter said the “strategic move into solar,” could be achieved in 10 years time, when the economy will be in favor of employing solar power.