The Kingdom spends SR220 billion a year to subsidize gasoline and diesel, a Shoura Council member said here recently. Fahad bin Juma’, deputy chairman of the committee for energy and economic affairs, said the country uses an estimated 2.8 million barrels of petrol and gas a day during the summer season to desalinate water and […]
Muscat: The Oman government is looking at revamping its fuel subsidy, which may result in changes in the retail prices of petrol and diesel in the near future. However, no decision has been taken so far. According to news reports reaching here, the Minister Responsible for Financial Affairs, Darwish bin Ismail Al Balushi, yesterday said […]
Per capita consumption of drinking water in Saudi Arabia has now reached 265 liters, which is double the amount of water used by an individual in a European country, said Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen. He said total water consumption in the Kingdom crossed eight million cubic meters for the first time. “This is […]
JEDDAH – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are seeking to add 1,000 megawatts of solar capacity enough to electrify 200,000 homes. However, the renewable energy drive of setting up solar-power plants will need more than $1.5 billion in financing by the end of 2014. The forecast expansion, which includes Jordan, will require loans […]
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 […]
An expert here believes that the Kingdom is likely to spend all its oil on electricity in the country by 2031 if current consumption continues, and has called for an urgent program to harness solar energy. “There must be real work done to benefit from this alternative energy in the Kingdom in light of climat […]
JEDDAH – Investment in environmentally friendly building projects in Saudi Arabia is set is to reach SR100 billion (over $26 billion) across 76 projects, Faisal Al-Fadl, Secretary General of the Saudi Green Building Forum, told a Saudi Arabic newspaper. “Out of 76 projects, 43 are based in Riyadh,” he said. Green building is the practice […]
Saudi Arabia has published a roadmap for its renewable energy programme, aimed at reducing the amount of oil it burns in power stations, and targets issuing final bids for the first plants within three months. The world’s top oil exporter aims to install 23.9 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power capacity by 2020 and 54.1 GW […]
Ventilation and air-conditioning has been identified as the highest energy consumer in Saudi Arabia with the summer months showing extraordinary high usage. “Air-conditioned buildings account for 70 percent of power consumption during this period,” said Minister of Water and Electricity (MOW&E) Abdullah Al Hussein citing a study. The minister spoke at the opening of the […]
With every square kilometre of land in Qatar receiving solar energy equivalent to 1.5mn barrels of crude oil in a year, Qatar is geographically well positioned to exploit significant solar energy, hence should consider setting up concentrated solar power (CSP) plants, according to top officials of Qatar Petroleum ( QP ). “With an average daily sunshine time exceeding 9.5 […]