ALBAWABA — Saudi Arabia plans to invest over $265 billion on developmental projects to produce cleaner electricity and expand its power grid, the kingdom's energy minister said Monday.
"We are no longer going to build any future power generation without carbon capturing solutions," Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said, reiterating Saudi Arabia’s commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2060.
Speaking at a forum organized by Saudi oil giant Aramco, the minister said that the world's biggest crude exporter was also looking to become a global leader in hydrogen production.
On Jan. 12, Bin Salman and Grant Shapps, secretary of state for the department of business, energy, and industrial strategy of the United Kingdom discussed areas of cooperation in the field of clean hydrogen as well as the development and localization of technologies related to carbon capture, utilization, and storage.
The meeting, held in Riyadh, also discussed exchanging related expertise, conducting joint research and developing related regulations and policies.
"We are determined to be the leading exporter of hydrogen, as well as to provide clean hydrogen for local uses in heavy industries to produce green products such as green steel, green aluminum, fertilizers and others at competitive prices," said Bin Salman at the seventh 7th edition of the activities of Iktva 2023 Program for Accelerating Future Success in Dhahran.
"We are introducing over a trillion riyals (about $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 modernizing the power transmission and distribution grid," he added.
The energy minister noted that Saudi Arabia is working to increase its gas production by 60 percent, adding 4,000 kilometers to existing gas lines, while also significantly increasing its oil production capacity.
Expanding and modernizing the energy transmission and distribution network by adding 66,000 kilometers of new transmission networks and 290,000 kilometers of distribution network would be done in unison with the development project, the minister added.
