RIYADH – Despite being one of the world’s sunniest countries, Saudi Arabiagenerates most of its electricity from oil-fired power plants.
Saudi Arabia and Japan’s SoftBank have agreed to the joint constructionof a multibillion-dollar solar power project in the sunshine-rich Gulfkingdom to meet Riyadh’s ambitious goal of lessening its reliance on oilby 2030, Deutsche Welle reported.
The deal to build a 200 GW solar power facility was signed by Saudi CrownPrince Mohammed bin Salman and SoftBank CEO Massayoshi Son on the sidelinesof the Saudi Prince’s visit to the United States.
The US$200 billion facility will be built as part of Riyadh’s currenteffort to modernize the country’s economy and society.
“It’s a huge step in human history,” Prince Mohammed said. “It’s bold,risky and we hope we’ll succeed in doing that.”
The initial phase of the project for the construction of a 3 GW and 4.2 GWsolar power facilities will cost US$5 billion, with US$1 billion comingfrom SoftBank’s Vision Fund and the rest from project financing.
Both solar stations, the biggest of their kind around, are scheduled to goonline before the year is out.
SoftBank and the Saudis say the solar project will be able to generatearound 7.2 gigawatts of power in 2019, and 200 gigawatts by 2030.
The project is expected to create 100,000 jobs in the country and reduceits dependence on fossil fuels to generate electricity.
With up to 800,000 barrels of crude oil burnt for Saudi power generationeach day, an additional 200 GW would create enormous excess capacity thatcould be exported to other countries.
Exporting that oil could increase Saudi Arabia’s annual oil revenuesby US$7-US$20 billion.