Saudi Arabia has initiated a study to expand to 8 megawatts the 500-kilowatt solar power plant inaugurated early this month as part of the country's alternative energy source, an official of the Saudi Electric Co. (SEC) said in an interview published online Wednesday. SEC's Eng. Hamed Al-Saggaf said in an interview with the Green Power Conferences that the Kingdom is selecting other locations and currently negotiating with contractors “to have hybrid solutions of diesel and solar production”. On October 1, Saudi Arabia inaugurated its first 500-kw Solar Power Plant on Farasan Island “using CIS Solar Thin Film Technology from Solar Frontier of Japan”. The plant, which was started on July 5, 2011, was completed on August 18, 2011. Al-Saggaf said Showa Shell Sekiyu built the plant on a build-own-and- transfer (BOT) basis, adding that the plant will be transferred to the SEC after 15 years or less. The plant, which will be operated and maintained by SEC, is “directly connected to the SEC's distribution system”, he added. “Development of renewable energy in the KSA is one of the Saudi government's objectives, which has been seriously considered by SEC management for its future energy plans,” he said. “However, there are issues that need to be carefully studied before shifting to the use for large scale of solar power which requires connection with the transmission grid,” he added. “One major hesitation is the reliability of solar plants. Although there are new developments that would resolve such a problem, we believe that the available technology would be too expensive for now and may not be economical to implement within the few years from now. Other important issues are the financial support needed to construct these large scale solar projects.” Al-Saggaf said solar energy “is a must for a long-term” need, adding that the newly inaugurated solar power plant gave the SEC the experience to place the Saudi government “in a better position to negotiate on the terms and conditions for future projects”. Solar energy, which is environmentally friendly, will help meet the Kingdom's objective to provide alternative energy in the country, he said.
