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Saudis Steal Sun

Saudi Arabia getting in on the solar action. Photo Credit: TravelPod

...And with good reason!

The Saudi Arabia government - and its people - are a little concerned. They face a swelling population, rampant depletion of underground water resources and economical dependence on petroleum. The petroleum sector alone accounts for almost 80 percent of their revenue.

Considering that Saudi Arabia is mostly hot, sizzling desert where nothing grows, it makes sense that they should seek out ways to utilize the land and in the process, spur economic growth in other sectors – like solar energy.

To reduce the Kingdom’s dependency on petroleum & oil exports and to welcome a growing population with new jobs in the private sector, the KSA government is now encouraging growth in solar power generation. With the demand for electricity consumption rising and the population growing, it’s evident that after all these centuries of temperatures in the high 120s, the sun is finally going to pay off – big time – as their plans for going solar include creating new jobs, increasing foreign investment and increasing revenue by selling energy to Europe and Africa.

Last June in Riyadh, the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia, the government held a conference promoting the "Development of National Renewable Energy Policy for Saudi Arabia," in which one of the keynote speakers, Dr. Ahmad Al-Khowaiter, talked about the competitive advantages Saudi Arabia has over other countries. Some advantages were an overabundance of sand, which is part of the PV cell recipe, cheap land and lots of sizzling sun.

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