Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Eng. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, delivered today the Kingdom's speech at the opening session of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, in the presence of the President of the Republic of Angola, Joao Lourenco, President of Republic of Mali Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, UAE Minister of Tolerance Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Energy and Industry Suhail bin Mohammed Al-Mazroui and a number of experts and leaders in energy and sustainability form around the world, where Minister Eng. Al-Falih reviewed the perspective of the Kingdom for a sustainable energy future, and the progress it made in this area. In his speech, Minister Eng. Al-Falih discussed the pivotal role of advanced technologies in shaping the future of knowledge-based economy and the importance of developing a realistic global energy transformation strategy to achieve economic and environmental goals without compromising global energy security, through improving the carbon performance of conventional energy, through improving the carbon performance of traditional energy, as well as absorbing renewable energy and advanced technologies that are economically viable and widely spread worldwide, to meet the aspirations of developed countries while taking into account the economic challenges faced by developing countries. He also said that the electricity sector in the Kingdom will shift from an oil and gas-based system to a more diversified one, where gas and renewable energy-based generation capabilities will replace fluid-based generating capacities, as renewable generation capacity will reach 40 GW of solar photovoltaic energy, 16 GW of wind power and 3 gigawatts of concentrated solar power through significant investments in renewable energy sources by 2030. He added that to achieve the Kingdom Vision 2030, the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources has set a number of objectives for renewable energy projects, where the Renewable Energy Project Development Office will offer at least 12 renewable energy projects in 2019. The Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources and the Public Investment Fund are working together to attract international companies to the Kingdom to localize and manufacture renewable energy technologies to meet domestic demand and export surplus to international markets, as well as seeking to produce more than 200 gigawatts through renewable energy technologies that are manufactured in the Kingdom by 2030, as this will be achieved through the provision of 30% of renewable energy targets in tenders announced by the Renewable Energy Project Development Office, while the remaining 70% will be developed by the Public Investment Fund and its selected partners. The Minister also pointed to the necessity of cooperation of all economy sectors that generate greenhouse gases, noting the importance of pursuing a comprehensive political approach to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement, through the promotion of advanced technologies. He pointed to the Kingdom's achievements, where the intensity of carbon emissions associated with oil production and burning of gas in the Kingdom is considered one of the lowest densities worldwide, in addition to the Kingdom's announcement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) of joining the initiative of the World Bank to end the burning of gas associated with oil production by 2030, and the Kingdom's expansion in renewable energy program, with the inauguration of two new solar power projects and one wind power plant in 2018.
