King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) recently embarked on the establishment of 70 stations and centers aimed to determine renewable energy sources in all parts of the Kingdom, local media said.
The centers will assess all renewable sources, including solar, wind, waste-conversion, and geothermal energies and collect ground readings from different parts in a step to build a database that will help implementation of renewable energy projects for electric generation and water desalination.
Meanwhile, the KACARE is currently organizing a workshop to acquaint attendees on a national map of renewable energy sources in the Kingdom. The map, scheduled to be finalized by the end of the current year, will be used by all concerned parties such as universities, research centers and energy project developers.
So far, ten centers have been erected and evenly distributed to collect all weather and air data conducive to show renewable energy sources in all parts of the Kingdom. The data will be accessible by researchers through a website on some basic information such as solar radiation and wind speed.
KACARE is reportedly working on the project with a number of national entities such as King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), Saudi Company for Power Transmission (SCPT), Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY).
The Kingdom, which recently selected eight locations to test the possibility of producing electricity from wind energy, is said to have the ability to reduce consumption of hydrocarbon fuels in electricity generation and water desalination up to 50 percent by 2032 by resorting to other renewable sources. According to a study released by KACARE, the share of renewable energy in this regard will roughly hit 30 percent.
The Kingdom is targeting that the share of solar energy to electricity generation capacity will be between 16-22 percent by 2032, or 41 Giga-Watt (GW), sources said.
