Saudi Arabia Plans to Build the World’s Largest Solar Power Plant

The government of Saudi Arabia and the leadership of the Japanese corporation SoftBank have announced plans to jointly build the world’s largest solar power plant, with a capacity of 200 gigawatts. This was reported by Bloomberg.

“This is a huge step in human history. It’s bold, risky, and we hope we will succeed,” said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. He expects that the construction of the power plant will create about 100,000 jobs, save $40 billion in electricity costs, and increase GDP by $12 billion.

The project is estimated to cost $200 billion. The construction is planned to be fully completed by 2030. Once the power plant is operational, Saudi Arabia’s total electricity production capacity will triple. In 2016, this figure was 77 gigawatts, with two-thirds generated from gas and one-third from oil.

To reduce its dependence on oil, the Saudi government plans to invest $30–50 billion in solar and wind energy by 2030.