JEDDAH — Businessman Khaled Sharbatly, executive partner in The Desert Technology Company specializing in solar energy, revealed that Saudi Arabia will achieve international leadership in producing solar energy. He pointed out that Saudi Arabia will produce over 50% of solar energy globally by the year 2030, and will be one of the biggest and most important clean solar energy producers and exporters to many countries in the next few years.

Khaled Sharbatly explained that the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 supports solar energy projects, especially through announcing the construction of the biggest solar energy project producing 200 Gigawatts, which will be considered one of the largest projects across the world. The ministry of Power announced with the cooperation of the Public Investment Fund a plan to construct solar power stations that produce 80 Gigawatts locally and 120 Gigawatts internationally.

The ministry of Power also gave a complete plan for over 35 fully equipped sites for the construction of the giant stations. It is expected that these enormous projects will help Saudi Arabia in providing oil as well as creating 100,000 job opportunities and increasing the Saudi local production by $12 billion annually.

Sharbatly added that Saudi Arabia is leading the countries regarding potential for solar energy production due to its large resources of land and sun and its leading position internationally in the field of generating renewable electricity.

He pointed that the renewable energy sector is considered one of the promising investment sectors regarding the government’s support to diversify energy sources by launching the inclusive national development strategy, which focuses on the Kingdom’s commitment to giving future generations a better future dependent on clean energy. — SG