Decarbonizing power generation in Saudi Arabia: The role of gas

Decarbonizing power generation in Saudi Arabia: The role of gas

JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia's energy mix is in the midst of a significant transformation as it explores more efficient and sustainable power generation solutions. To that end, the most recently published renewable target in Saudi Arabia aims to have around 60 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030, including solar and wind power.As the Kingdom continues to decarbonize the power sector, gas fuelled power generation presents an excellent complement to renewable energy.Supplies of renewable energy are typically intermittent in nature as sunshine, rain and wind speeds vary over the course of a day as well as across seasons, and battery storage solutions remain expensive, often making them economically infeasible.“Gas power technologies not only offer the flexibility to ramp power production up or down rapidly to meet potential gaps in energy supply from variable renewable sources and stabilize the grid but gas also presents the cleanest means to generate electricity from traditional fossil fuels,” said Joseph Anis, president and CEO of GE Gas Power in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.Technological