Al Uyayna, Saudi Arabia — Saudi engineers are whipping up simulated sandstorms to test the durability of solar panels at a research lab, the heart of the Kingdom’s multibillion dollar quest to be a renewable energy powerhouse. The government lab in Al Uyayna, a sun-drenched village near Riyadh, is leading the country’s efforts for solar power as it seeks to diversify. A dazzling spotlight was shone on those ambitions last week when Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, unveiled plans to develop the globe’s biggest solar power project for $200 billion in partnership with Japan’s SoftBank group. The memorandum of understanding to produce up to 200 gigawatts of power by 2030 — about 100 times the capacity of the current biggest projects — was the latest jaw-dropping statement as the Saudis look to wean themselves off oil. If built on one site, the solar farm would cover an area twice the size of Hong Kong, according to a Bloomberg News calculation. “We can do it,” said Adel Al-Sheheween, director of the solar laboratory under the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. “This may take time, but we have all the raw materials — sunshine, land and most importantly, the will,” he added. The site, which also includes a solar field that supplies electricity to neighboring villages, was established some three decades ago. But the push for renewables only now appears to be gaining momentum. “Saudi Arabia has long had a vision for becoming... an exporter of oil and of gigawatts of power,” Ellen Wald, a scholar at pro-Saudi think tank Arabia Foundation and author of the book “Saudi Inc”, told AFP. “That vision requires solar power installations of a massive scale. My understanding is the project will be rolled out in pieces and not as one giant plant.” SoftBank’s Vision Fund would invest $1 billion for the first phase of the deal. Saudi Arabia has dazzled investors with several plans for hi-tech “giga projects”, funded in part by its sovereign wealth fund. The Kingdom has unveiled blueprints to build NEOM, a mega project billed as a regional Silicon Valley, in addition to the Red Sea project, a reef-fringed resort destination — both worth hundreds of billions of dollars. — AFP