102 F. AL-SULAYMAN
these figures with some skepticism. As mentioned earlier in the chapter,
the Kingdom had announced plans in 2013 to target 54 GWp of renewables generation capacity by 2032 through KACARE, plans which were
later scrapped, and the institution tasked with their execution sidelined.
The credibility of these plans has been further called into question due to
uncertainty about which government entities were responsible for delivering these targets; while the initial targets and framework for renewable
Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects was established through an
entity within the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (now known
as the Ministry of Energy) called the Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO) and its National Renewable Energy Program
(NREP), the Public Investment Fund (PIF) was also announcing that it,
along with its partner Softbank, would be developing $200 billion worth
of projects in Saudi. 27 By the second half of 2019 these two plans had
been consolidated, with state institutions now in agreement that the PIFSoftbank alliance would be responsible for 70% of the renewables target,
and REPDO the remaining 30%; the former would be delivering projects
through negotiated deals with international partners, as opposed to the
competitive tendering process deployed by the latter. In the credible plans
short-term horizon outlined in Table 4.2, we have placed a total of 6
projects for which Request For Proposals (RFPs) were released in August
2019, and a further 4 projects with RFPs released in March 2020.
Qatar
Considering the resources available to the state, Qatar has arguably set the
most modest renewables target of the group, aiming to build a 700 MWp
solar PV plant at Al-Kharsaag, with the first 350 MWp to be completed in
2020. Like the Kuwaiti case, the national oil company, Qatar Petroleum,
is a major sponsor of these first large-scale renewables projects. And
though a longer-term target to produce 20% of its electricity using solar
energy by 2030 is also part of the Qatar National Vision (QNV) 2030,
a roadmap to achieve this target has not been outlined. Qatar’s abundance of natural gas resources means that it is able to produce relatively
clean combustible and dispatchable power domestically at very low prices.
This dynamic is an amplified version of the dynamic playing out in other
rentier states, where the abundance of low-cost oil and gas resources
(opportunity costs aside), has undoubtably delayed the uptake of renewables technologies, and in an atmosphere of particular fiscal abundance in
these figures with some skepticism. As mentioned earlier in the chapter,
the Kingdom had announced plans in 2013 to target 54 GWp of renewables generation capacity by 2032 through KACARE, plans which were
later scrapped, and the institution tasked with their execution sidelined.
The credibility of these plans has been further called into question due to
uncertainty about which government entities were responsible for delivering these targets; while the initial targets and framework for renewable
Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects was established through an
entity within the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (now known
as the Ministry of Energy) called the Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO) and its National Renewable Energy Program
(NREP), the Public Investment Fund (PIF) was also announcing that it,
along with its partner Softbank, would be developing $200 billion worth
of projects in Saudi. 27 By the second half of 2019 these two plans had
been consolidated, with state institutions now in agreement that the PIFSoftbank alliance would be responsible for 70% of the renewables target,
and REPDO the remaining 30%; the former would be delivering projects
through negotiated deals with international partners, as opposed to the
competitive tendering process deployed by the latter. In the credible plans
short-term horizon outlined in Table 4.2, we have placed a total of 6
projects for which Request For Proposals (RFPs) were released in August
2019, and a further 4 projects with RFPs released in March 2020.
Qatar
Considering the resources available to the state, Qatar has arguably set the
most modest renewables target of the group, aiming to build a 700 MWp
solar PV plant at Al-Kharsaag, with the first 350 MWp to be completed in
2020. Like the Kuwaiti case, the national oil company, Qatar Petroleum,
is a major sponsor of these first large-scale renewables projects. And
though a longer-term target to produce 20% of its electricity using solar
energy by 2030 is also part of the Qatar National Vision (QNV) 2030,
a roadmap to achieve this target has not been outlined. Qatar’s abundance of natural gas resources means that it is able to produce relatively
clean combustible and dispatchable power domestically at very low prices.
This dynamic is an amplified version of the dynamic playing out in other
rentier states, where the abundance of low-cost oil and gas resources
(opportunity costs aside), has undoubtably delayed the uptake of renewables technologies, and in an atmosphere of particular fiscal abundance in