Saudi Arabia launches geographical survey project for renewable energy sites

The signing ceremony

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy launched today, June 24, the geographical survey project for renewable energy sites and awarded contracts to Saudi companies to install 1,200 stations for measuring solar and wind energy across all regions of the Kingdom.

On the sidelines of the signing ceremony, Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman stated that this project, part of the National Renewable Energy Program, is unprecedented globally, in terms of geographical coverage, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

It will cover all regions Kingdom-wide by surveying more than 850,000 square kilometers, after excluding populated areas, sand dune areas, and airspace restrictions. This area is equivalent to the land area of entire countries, such as approximately the areas of the UK and France combined, or Germany and Spain combined, he added.

Accordingly, the project will contribute to identifying the best locations for developing renewable energy projects in Saudi Arabia, in terms of the size of renewable energy resources and the projects’ development priority.

The new geographical survey project aligns with the Kingdom’s commitment to achieving its ambitious goals in producing and exporting renewable energy, possibly boosting the optimal use of renewable energy resources across all regions and leveraging the Kingdom’s strategic geographical location in exporting electricity generated from renewable sources.

It will also primarily contribute to achieving the optimal energy mix targets for electricity production, with renewable energy sources comprising about 50% of the energy mix by 2030. This is in addition to driving the Kingdom’s move towards hydrogen production, and to achieving the goals of the Liquid Fuel Displacement Program by reducing dependence on liquid fuel in electricity generation, he underlined.

The minister further indicated Saudi Arabia’s plan to launch projects for electricity generation from renewables. Starting this year, the Kingdom will tender new renewable energy projects with a capacity of 20 gigawatts annually, aiming to reach between 100 and 130 gigawatts by 2030, depending on electricity demand growth, he noted.