Saudi Arabia Hooked on Solar Power as Oil Antidote
THE NATIONAL - Saudi Arabia feels threatened by the hot air on climate change emanating from "certain" industrialised countries, and is planning a major push to develop solar-powered electricity. Claiming that international talks on global carbon emissions were stacked against oil producers while letting subsidised coal producers off the hook, the kingdom's top climate negotiator, Mohammed al Sabban, said the discussions posed a "scary" threat to the Saudi economy.
(...)
"We are ruling out nuclear energy for now," Mr al Sabban told Bloomberg. "We are joining the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and we will focus on solar energy as a renewable."
He said the kingdom was investing heavily in solar power.
Helene Pelosse, the secretary general of IRENA, meanwhile, is on record as opposing nuclear development.
If Mr al Sabban's solar investment claim is on target, then Saudi Arabia is charting a significantly different path from its neigbour, the United Arab Emirates, which has launched a civilian nuclear power programme and last month awarded a US$20 billion (Dh73.4bn) contract to a South Korean consortium to build the nation's first four reactors by 2020.
Read full article here
