Dubai: Saudi Arabia hopes to get up to 50 per cent of its power from nuclear and other renewable sources within 20 years, the president of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewables Energy, or KA-CARE, says.
“Nuclear energy and renewables have an active role and can contribute up to 50 per cent of electricity production,” Hashim Yamani said in remarks published by the official Saudi Press Agency on Saturday.
The Arab world’s largest economy plans to build 16 nuclear reactors by 2030 with 17 gigawatts capacity at a total cost of around $100 billion. The plants will take nine years to 11 years to complete and the first will start operations by 2020.
If Saudi Arabia’s current energy-consumption growth rate of 7 per cent a year continues the kingdom within 20 years will burn the equivalent of around two-thirds of its total current crude production capacity of 12.5 million barrels a day, some economists say.
The UAE, Egypt and Jordan are seeking to develop nuclear energy, too.
Saudi Arabia has signed nuclear cooperation pacts with China, France, Argentina and South Korea and is in discussions with the US, UK, Russia and the Czech Republic.
