• WSP supports SEC’s ambitious Environment & Sustainability strategies in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030

  • SEC’s commitment to sustainability entails investments in renewable energy and smart meters

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:– Driven by the Saudi Vision 2030 towards protecting and enhancing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s environment, and in line with SEC’s vision of being a leading power provider while protecting the environment through sustainable solutions, SEC has commissioned an environmental compliance program covering all its facilities across the Kingdom. The project aims to achieve the environmental compliance requirements of SEC’s operation facilities and assets, against the National Center for Environmental Compliance (“NCEC”) standards and regulations.

In this regard, WSP's Environment & Sustainability Advisory team were appointed to support SEC in achieving compliance against the applicable local and international environmental regulations. The first phase of the project is to identify all compliance gaps, provide environmental auditing services, and develop the environmental compliance action plans and procedures required to achieve legal compliance with NCEC’s requirements. The second phase is for oversighting, tracking, and monitoring the Environmental Compliance Action plans’ implementation, including the development of Key Performance Indicator (“KPIs”) to monitor and control the progress across SEC’s operation sites and assets.

WSP's Environment & Sustainability Advisory team also supports SEC with the development of an Environmental Management System (“EMS”) based on international benchmarks. The development of the EMS is a target set by SEC and defined as an internal KPI for meeting International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) requirements.

May Faraj, Head of Environment & Sustainability, WSP Middle East said: “I’m confident our expertise and technical skills in the Environment & Sustainability space will lay the foundation for successful outcomes. What we’re setting out to achieve here is the provision of advisory services underpinned by bringing SEC’s sustainability commitments to realization, in line with Vision 2030. We are proud to have been appointed by SEC; this is a strategic partnership on both ends. As we support SEC to achieve its sustainability ambitions, we are also thrilled to be working on such a big-scale project with a company of this magnitude.”

Mahmoud Hashish, Project Director and KSA Environment & Sustainability Lead, WSP Middle East said: “At WSP Middle East, sustainability is at the core of our values, and we embody it in everything we do. We are bringing this fundamental value to life through our work with SEC. Being at the heart of this project and working hand in hand with SEC, has been such a great and humbling experience. We aim to continue working closely with SEC, to ensure environmental compliance & protection, set up benchmarks for SEC to become pioneers in their field, and implement a national transformation plan in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.”

Dr. Abdullah M. AlShoaibi, Environment & Sustainability Manager, SEC said: “We at the Saudi Electricity Company collaborate with WSP to develop corrective action plans and an Environmental Management System to ensure we achieve environmental sustainability and improve SEC’s Environmental and Sustainability Performance towards Saudi Arabia’s sustainable future.”

As per the latest Environment, Sustainability and Governance Report (2021) from SEC, the Company aims to reform towards becoming a “Sustainable Energy Provider” in alignment with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and its strategic pillars for developing the electricity sector. These strategic pillars include: 

  • Ensuring the provision of safe, adequate, high quality and efficient electricity supply to all consumers.

  • Increasing efficiencies to reduce the costs of providing electrical service.

  • Pioneering environmental commitments and contributions to better enable Saudi Arabia to increase its contributions towards the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

SEC’s commitment to sustainability entails: 

  • Implementing Saudi Arabia’s national energy strategy to create a sustainable electricity sector. By 2030, Saudi Arabia is aiming to have 50% of its electricity generated from renewable energy sources and the remaining 50% generated from thermal energy, as well as completely displacing liquid fuel for gas.

  • Investing into 25 renewable energy integration projects by 2026, which will have a total capacity of 15,994 megawatts and the potential to avoid 33.5 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions each year.

  • Implementing over 10.5 million smart meters throughout Saudi Arabia, which will potentially avoid 1.8 million tons of CO2e emissions each year, as well as help to promote grid digitization.

WSP’s multidisciplinary team of management consulting and technical engineering experts help clients, like SEC, navigate complex environmental & sustainability landscapes across the value chain, ultimately building resilient organizations that can thrive in a changing global market. WSP has been successful to bridge the gap between strategic service solutions and technical specialist engineering.

For the latest news and insights from WSP Middle East, visit www.wsp.com/en-AE

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About WSP

WSP is one of the world's leading professional services consulting firms. We are dedicated to our local communities and propelled by international brainpower. We are technical experts and strategic advisors including engineers, technicians, scientists, architects, planners, surveyors and environmental specialists, as well as other design, program and construction management professionals. We design lasting solutions in the Transportation & Infrastructure, Property & Buildings, Environment, Power & Energy, Resources and Industry sectors, as well as offering strategic advisory services. With approximately 63,000+ talented people globally, we engineer projects that will help societies grow for lifetimes to come. Visit wsp.com

About SEC

SEC is the main supplier of electricity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Since 2017, the percentage of the population with access to electricity has averaged 99.81%. Compared to 2020, this percentage increased from 99.87% to 99.93% in 2021. SEC has been cooperating with local and global partnerships to achieve environmental sustainability. And one of its main goals currently is to protect the environment and biodiversity through efficient operations that minimize the use of resources, minimize waste, and manage risks related to biodiversity.