Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has announced that the country intends to spend more than $266 billion to create greener electricity and extend its power grid.
Despite its goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2060, Saudi Arabia remains hugely dependent on crude oil exports that have powered its growth for decades, raising doubts about its potential for an economic makeover any time soon.
Soaring crude prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine allowed the kingdom to post 2022 its first budget surplus in nine years, giving it the financial firepower for economic development.
Speaking during a forum hosted by Saudi Arabia’s largest oil company Aramco, Abdulaziz said that the country was also aiming to become a global leader in the production of hydrogen.
“We are introducing over a trillion riyals ($266 billion) worth of investment by 2030 to address our plans to achieve cleaner forms of electricity within the kingdom as well as expanding and modernising the power transmission and distribution grid,” he said.
Speaking further, he said, “On the hydrogen front, we are determined to be the leading exporter as well as availing clean hydrogen for local usages in heavy industries to produce green products,” he told the seventh annual IKTVA forum in Dhahran in a speech.
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With the project, Saudi Arabia would also double down on carbon capture solutions.
“We are no longer going to build any future power generation without carbon capture,” the Saudi minister said.
Story was adapted from Channels.
