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OPEC’ member Saudi Arabia is planning to execute 10 new renewable energy projects as part of a strategy to boost reliance on solar and wind power and slash oil use in electricity generation, newspapers said on Sunday.
The world’s largest oil exporter approved the 10 projects in its 2023 budget which it announced this week with a surplus for the first time in many years.
“The 2023 budget includes the development of 10 renewable energy projects with a total output capacity of 7 gigawatts,” Almadina and other Saudi dailies said.
The report did not specify the projects or their costs but said they are part of a strategy in the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision for economic diversification aimed at expanding renewable power in the country’s energy mix to 50 percent at the end of the scheme.
The Kingdom, which controls the world’s second extractable oil deposits after Venezuela, has also set a target to cut diesel consumption in power generation by more than 5,000 barrels per day, the report added.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
