Saudi Arabia announces 13 new renewables projects in latest move towards net-zero

There are about 13 new renewables projects currently under development in Saudi Arabia. This was confirmed by the Kingdom’s Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, announcing it as the country pushes towards its goal of achieving net-zero by 2060.

The projects have the capacity of 11.3 Gigawatts and the ability to reduce approximately 20 million tons of carbon emissions per year, he said at the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) Forum on Friday– held in Sharm el-Sheikh in tandem with COP27.

The move comes as part of the country’s commitment to produce 50 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2030.

The past year alone, Saudi Arabia has managed to reduce emissions by about one million tons, the minister added.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had pledged late last year that the Kingdom would cut its carbon emissions to net-zero by 2060.

Prince Abdulaziz also announced that the Ministry of Energy and Saudi Aramco – one of the world’s largest oil producers – have partnered to establish a carbon capture and storage (CCS) hub, in the Kingdom’s latest move towards achieving net-zero by 2060.

“I’m very pleased to announce the establishment of a carbon capture and storage hub through a partnership with Aramco, which will help the Kingdom to meet its net-zero ambition by 2060. Don’t be very surprised if we achieve this net zero even before that period,” the Kingdom’s Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) Forum on Friday– held in Sharm el-Sheikh in tandem with COP27.

“We honor our commitments and deliver them. We have to showcase that we are honorably achieving our commitments,” Prince Abdulaziz said.

The new CCS hub will be located on the east coast of Saudi Arabia in Jubail and will be able to safely store up to 9 million tons of carbon dioxide a year by 2027, said Saudi Aramco’s CEO Amin Nasser at the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) Forum on Friday.

Saudi Aramco plans to store around six million tons of its own CO2 emissions at the capture and storage unit, and three million from other companies, the CEO added.

“At Aramco, we aim to contribute around 6 million tons, and the remaining 3 million tons from other industrial sources. As overall capacity ramps up, we will start other phases of our carbon-capture sequestration process,” Nasser said.