Saudi Arabia is exploring renewable energy sites as part of a major project

The project will explore all regions of Saudi Arabia with a total area of ​​over 850,000 square kilometers, excluding populated and air-restricted areas and dunes. According to the minister, the scale of the project implemented under Saudi Arabia’s National Renewable Energy Program is “unprecedented on a global scale.”

A total of 1,200 solar and wind energy measurement stations will be installed. In the first phase of the project, the stations will explore a designated area spanning all regions of Saudi Arabia to identify suitable locations for renewable energy projects. The stations covered by the project will then be moved to these locations and installed there to continuously provide all the required but accurate data for the implementation of renewable energy projects.

Solar energy measurement stations, equipped with “advanced measurement devices” at ground level, will record direct normal irradiance, global horizontal irradiance, diffuse horizontal irradiance, dust and pollutant deposition rate, ground reflected radiation, ambient temperature, rainfall levels , relative humidity and atmospheric pressure.

The project will use artificial intelligence systems to evaluate and rank locations based on their suitability for renewable energy projects. The project could also help eliminate the current waiting period of 18-24 months to obtain data, speeding up the plot allocation process.

In addition, the Energy Minister also said that Saudi Arabia will call for tenders for new renewable energy projects with a capacity of 20 GW per year, starting from 2024, with the goal of reaching 100 GW to 130 GW by 2030, depending on the growth in demand for energy. electricity.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia announced the shortlisted bidders for the fifth round of 3.7 GW of solar projects under the Saudi National Renewable Energy Program (NREP), including several major renewable developers. In an announcement published by the Saudi Press Agency, SPPC announced that Masdar, EDF Renouvelables, Itochu Corporation, Total Energies Renewables and Saudi Electricity Company were among the companies that won the bids.

The largest project offered in this round is the 2GWac Al Sadawi, located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.