Saudi Arabia
is kicking off its $50 billion renewable-energy push as the world’s top crude
exporter turns to solar and wind power to temper domestic oil use in meeting
growing energy demand.
Bidders
seeking to qualify to build 700 megawatts of wind and solar power plants should
submit documents by March 20, and those selected will be announced by April 10,
Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said Monday in an e-mailed statement. Qualified
bidders will be able to present their offers for the projects starting on April
17 through July.
“This marks
the starting point of a long and sustained program of renewable energy
deployment in Saudi Arabia that will not only diversify our power mix but also
catalyze economic development,” Khalid Al-Falih, the energy minister, said in
the statement. The ministry’s Renewable Energy Project Development Office
intends to set up “the most attractive, competitive and well executed
government renewable energy investment programs in the world,” he said.
Middle
Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and
Morocco are developing renewable energy to either curb their fuel imports or conserve
more valuable oil that could otherwise be exported. Saudi Arabia plans to
develop almost 10 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2023, requiring investment
of $30 billion to $50 billion, Al-Falih said last month in Abu Dhabi.
Building
more solar, wind and nuclear power plants is part of a broader plan that the
kingdom announced in April to diversify away from crude sales as the main
source of government income.
The two
projects in this round are a 300-megawatt solar facility at Sakaka in the
country’s northern Al Jouf province and a 400-megawatt wind plant at Midyan in
northwestern Tabuk province, according to the statement.