Seeking Sustainable Development: Prospects for Saudi Arabia’s Transition from Oil to Renewable Energy
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is the world’s largest producer and exporter of oil with one quarter of the world’s known oil reserves, i.e., more than 260 billion barrels. The KSA is also a major oil consumer, refining 2.5 million bbl/day in 2016 and consuming 3.2 million bbl/day. Of this, a substantial proportion was crude oil burned directly in power plants. Electricity demand has been rising rapidly; from 2006 to 2016, the annual average rate was 6.2%. By the end of 2016, the total electric power generation capacity of the national grid was 74.3 GW, of which 55 GW was provided by the state-owned Saudi Electricity Company and the rest by industrial companies with their own grid-connected power plants. In 2013, to meet the needs and economic development of the future generations, the KSA announced its target to produce one third of its electricity from renewable energy by 2032 for balancing the consumption of natural resources. Fortunately, the KSA has renewable energy sources with high potential and is actively developing modern technologies for exploiting and utilizing these energy sources. The most freely available natural renewable energy sources are wind and solar energy. The KSA has an abundant potential for exploiting solar energy. The average annual solar radiation falling on the Arabian Peninsula is approximately 2200 kWh/m2. This is sufficient to make a significant contribution to the KSA’s energy supply. From this viewpoint, this study reviews and explores the developments and challenges associated with renewable energy and energy efficiency programs according to the KSA’s plans.
