While Russia is producing oil, the Saudis conceived a coup in the energy sector
In the foreseeable future, the world can expect a real "solar revolution" in the energy sector. While Russia continues to develop oil and gas fields, another "oil giant" - Saudi Arabia - is preparing for a large-scale experiment with solar energy. At the end of March 2018, the crown prince of the kingdom, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, signed an agreement with the Japanese telecommunications company Softbank Group. The essence of the agreement is to build huge solar power plants in Saudi Arabia.
The project is very large-scale, its cost is estimated at 200 billion dollars. It consists in the construction and launch by 2030 of several solar power plants with a total capacity of 200 GW. Specialists note that such a capacity is comparable to 200 nuclear power plants. Head of Softbank Group Masayoshi Son noted that the territory of Saudi Arabia is the best suited for the construction of such facilities, since there is a lot of solar energy on the Arabian Peninsula.
Currently, the country has only one small solar power plant with a capacity of 10 MW, located on the roof of the parking lot of the head office of Saudi Aramco in the city of Dahran. But the leaders of Saudi Arabia, well aware that oil resources will only be depleted, are considering possible ways to maintain that level of development economics, which is now the kingdom. For this, the role of an exporter of energy resources should not be abandoned, but the nature of energy resources can be changed - look not down, but up, at the sky, and take solar energy. Note that similar projects are nurturing and the authorities of neighboring United Arab Emirates. In Saudi Arabia, they are planning to build the innovative city of Neom, which will be fully provided with solar energy, and in the UAE, 17 kilometers from Abu Dhabi, the innovative city of Masdar is being built, which they also plan to feed from solar energy and other alternative sources.
Riyadh implements a project for the construction of solar power plants and for social reasons. It is known that in Saudi Arabia the problem of unemployment of the indigenous population is quite acute. The construction of solar power plants will create an additional 100 thousand jobs. Of course, a significant part of the workers will be invited from abroad, but Saudi youth will also get jobs.
Back in 2016, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud published his own program for the development of the kingdom until 2030 - “Vision-2030”, which draws a line to a gradual departure from traditional energy sources. So far, Saudi Arabia leads the way in the use of oil for electricity production, with more than a third of domestic oil consumption being spent on Saudi power plants. Active introduction of solar power plants will free up this oil and direct it to foreign markets.
However, there is no need to talk about the complete replacement of oil in the country's energy structure. Moreover, many experts are very skeptical about the plans of the Saudi leadership for the development of solar energy, especially regarding the export of energy thus obtained - it is expensive and very difficult technically.
The project is very large-scale, its cost is estimated at 200 billion dollars. It consists in the construction and launch by 2030 of several solar power plants with a total capacity of 200 GW. Specialists note that such a capacity is comparable to 200 nuclear power plants. Head of Softbank Group Masayoshi Son noted that the territory of Saudi Arabia is the best suited for the construction of such facilities, since there is a lot of solar energy on the Arabian Peninsula.
Currently, the country has only one small solar power plant with a capacity of 10 MW, located on the roof of the parking lot of the head office of Saudi Aramco in the city of Dahran. But the leaders of Saudi Arabia, well aware that oil resources will only be depleted, are considering possible ways to maintain that level of development economics, which is now the kingdom. For this, the role of an exporter of energy resources should not be abandoned, but the nature of energy resources can be changed - look not down, but up, at the sky, and take solar energy. Note that similar projects are nurturing and the authorities of neighboring United Arab Emirates. In Saudi Arabia, they are planning to build the innovative city of Neom, which will be fully provided with solar energy, and in the UAE, 17 kilometers from Abu Dhabi, the innovative city of Masdar is being built, which they also plan to feed from solar energy and other alternative sources.
Riyadh implements a project for the construction of solar power plants and for social reasons. It is known that in Saudi Arabia the problem of unemployment of the indigenous population is quite acute. The construction of solar power plants will create an additional 100 thousand jobs. Of course, a significant part of the workers will be invited from abroad, but Saudi youth will also get jobs.
Back in 2016, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud published his own program for the development of the kingdom until 2030 - “Vision-2030”, which draws a line to a gradual departure from traditional energy sources. So far, Saudi Arabia leads the way in the use of oil for electricity production, with more than a third of domestic oil consumption being spent on Saudi power plants. Active introduction of solar power plants will free up this oil and direct it to foreign markets.
However, there is no need to talk about the complete replacement of oil in the country's energy structure. Moreover, many experts are very skeptical about the plans of the Saudi leadership for the development of solar energy, especially regarding the export of energy thus obtained - it is expensive and very difficult technically.
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