- RIYADH: A major challenge faced by the Kingdom’s electricity sector is that the demand for power in the country is growing at the rate of 8 percent annually, the highest in the world, according to the President of the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) Muhammad Al-Suwayyil.
He added that the challenge would be tackled with the help of the newly established Saudi Energy Efficiency Center. “The center will help the government’s efforts to rationalize power consumption by increasing efficiency of consumption and consolidating efforts of related departments,” Al-Suwayyil said while opening an international workshop on Kingdom’s energy efficiency and energy policies at the KASCT on Monday.
He added the center would effectively bring down power consumption to a level matching the country’s gross national product and the global level of consumption by 2020.
Minister of Petroleum and Minerals Ali Al-Naimi and Assistant Minister of Petroleum and Minerals Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman were also present at the workshop, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The Saudi Electricity Company, which is owned 80 percent by the government, plans to boost its capacity to 80,000 MW by 2020 to cope with the rising demand for power.
According to earlier reports 50 percent of the electricity in the Kingdom is generated using natural gas.
