Saudi Arabia Plans $109 Billion Boost for Solar Power Saudi
Arabia plans to produce electricity from its first nuclear plant
by 2020 and begin operating a solar farm by 2015, said an
official at the agency developing the country’s renewable energy
program. The country will start work on its first solar-power
facility early next year, which may take as much as 24 months to
complete, Khalid al-Suliman, vice president at the King Abdullah
City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, told the state-owned Saudi
Press Agency. Al-Suliman said the project will get underway once
the government approves his agency’s plan for renewable energy.
He told the press agency yesterday that he expects to receive
official approval early next year. Saudi Arabia, which is
tapping renewable energy as a way to free more crude oil for
export, is planning for $109 billion in investment to create a
solar industry that generates a third of the nation’s
electricity by 2032. The world’s largest crude oil exporter
targets 41,000 megawatts of sola