Saudi Arabia plans to generate 15.1 TWh of renewable electricity in 2024

Saudi Arabia plans to generate 15.1 TWh of renewable electricity in 2024, according to the country's Kingdom's General Authority for Statistics. In 2020, Saudi Arabia generated less than 730 GWh from renewables, accounting for 0.2% of the country's electricity production. Saudi Arabia’s National Renewable Energy Program includes 13 projects with a total capacity of 4,870 MW, including 4,470 MW of solar and 400 MW of wind.

Saudi Arabia’s installed capacity is almost entirely thermal and reached 89 GW at the end of 2020 (54% oil and 46% gas). The country promised in October 2021 to double the emissions cut it plans to achieve by 2030, from 130 MtCO_2eq/year to 278 MtCO_2eq/year. To do so, Saudi Arabia plans to cover around 50% of its power mix with renewables and up to 50% of the power mix with gas in 2030, and to build a green hydrogen plant fuelled by 4 GW of wind and solar and able to produce 650t/d of green hydrogen by electrolysis and 1.2 Mt/year of green ammonia. CO₂ energy emissions increased strongly between 1990 and 2015 (+5%/year on average) and have since been decreasing by 2.6%/year, reaching 492 MtCO₂ in 2020.