Aramco, the largest oil company in Saudi Arabia, plans to generate 12 GW of renewable energy by 2030. The company stated in its most recent sustainability report that it intends to decarbonize the power supply for Aramco’s operations by allocating the renewable energy credits from the investments. Reportedly, Saudi Arabia has a lot of potential for using solar energy because it receives over 300 days of sunlight annually.
The Saudi government established a National Renewable Energy Program to increase the renewable generation capacity beyond 58 GW by the end of the decade, which consists of 40 GW of planned capacity from solar energy and 16 GW from wind energy. This was done to further utilise the region’s renewable resources. Other sustainable energy sources would provide the remaining capacity.
Therefore, Saudi Aramco Power Company, a subsidiary of Aramco, joined a consortium led by ACWA Power to develop the 1.5 GW Sudair solar project in order to support the Saudi government’s efforts to operationalize renewable resources. Aramco’s participation in Saudi Arabia’s clean energy initiative began with the Sudair venture. By the second half of 2022, the project’s first phase is anticipated to start operating.
REGlobal’s Views: Aramco is working on expanding its clean energy portfolio, and apart from renewable energy, it is also exploring investment in carbon capture and storage and hydrogen export.
