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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has unveiled plans to develop the globe's biggest solar power project for $200 billion in partnership with Japan's SoftBank group |
Saudi engineers whip up a simulated sandstorm to test a solar panel's durability at a research lab, the heart of the oil-rich kingdom's multibillion dollar quest to be a renewable energy powerhouse.
The world's
top exporter of crude seems an unlikely champion of clean energy, but the
government lab in Al Uyayna, a sun-drenched village near Riyadh, is leading the
country's efforts for solar power as it seeks to diversify.
A dazzling
spotlight was shone on those ambitions last week when Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman unveiled plans to develop the globe's biggest solar power project for
$200 billion in partnership with Japan's SoftBank group.
The
memorandum of understanding to produce up to 200 gigawatts of power by 2030 —-
about 100 times the capacity of the current biggest projects —- was the latest
jaw-dropping statement as the Saudis look to wean themselves off oil.
If built on
one site, the solar farm would cover an area twice the size of Hong Kong,
according to a Bloomberg News calculation.
While the
scale of the plan has stirred some disbelief -- the agreement announced in the
US was greeted with determination at the laboratory.
"We can
do it," said Adel al-Sheheween, director of the solar laboratory under the
King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.
"This
may take time, but we have all the raw materials —- sunshine, land and most
importantly, the will," he added, giving AFP a tour of the facility widely
known as Solar Village.
Engineers
were working away testing solar panels under harsh conditions.
A miniature
sandstorm inside a cylindrical chamber battered one panel. A machine with what
appeared to be a large boxing glove punched another.
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Electricity from solar sources costs less than half that of nuclear power |
'Exporter
of gigawatts'
The site,
which also includes a solar field that supplies electricity to neighbouring
villages, was established some three decades ago.
But the
push for renewables only now appears to be gaining momentum.
It is
driven by a key incentive —- to free up more oil reserves for export, the
kingdom's chief revenue earner.
Saudi
Arabia currently draws on oil and natural gas to both meet its own fast-growing
power demand and desalinate its water, consuming an estimated 3.4 million
barrels of oil daily.
That number
is expected to rise to 8.3 million barrels in 10 years, according to the King
Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, eating up the bulk of Saudi
Arabia's crude production.
"Saudi
Arabia has long had a vision for becoming... an exporter of oil and of
gigawatts of power," Ellen Wald, a scholar at pro-Saudi think tank Arabia
Foundation and author of the book "Saudi Inc", told AFP.
"That
vision requires solar power installations of a massive scale. My understanding
is the project will be rolled out in pieces and not as one giant plant."
But the
sheer scope of the project, which aims to produce well above the kingdom's own
projected requirement of 120 gigawatts by 2032, has prompted scepticism.
"Although
Saudi Arabia has more than enough vacant, non-arable desert land... (it) really
does not need so much solar power," said Bart Lucarelli, a managing
director for power and utilities at advisory firm AWR Lloyd.
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Saudi hopes
to make Uyayna the centrepiece of a multibillion dollar push to
become a
renewable energy powerhouse
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"There
has been speculation about whether this amount of new solar capacity can even
be built in that time frame within a single country. The consensus view is that
the 200 gigawatt figure is excessive."
Lucarelli
said Saudi Arabia instead "needs a balance" between renewables and
fossil fuels -- and pointed out that the solar memorandum is non-binding for
now.
To handle
the amount of power the project envisions, experts say the kingdom would
require huge investments to upgrade its grid and set up large-scale battery
storage facilities.
'Giga
projects'
The solar
push appears to be driven by geopolitics as much as economics.
"Saudia
Arabia's problem is that (rivals) Iran and Qatar have the gas reserves it does
not," said James Dorsey, a Middle East expert at the S. Rajaratnam School
of International Studies in Singapore.
"That
is one reason why renewables figure prominently in Prince Mohammed's reform
programme, not only to prepare Saudi Arabia economically for a post-oil future
but also to secure its continued geopolitical significance."
Saudi
Arabia also harbours atomic ambitions, with plans to build 16 reactors over the
next two decades for $80 billion, despite concerns over nuclear proliferation
in the Middle East.
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