JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia, which is eyeing nuclear options for power generation and desalination, expects it nuclear capacity to more than double in 20 years, a senior official said Monday. "Saudi nuclear power capacity is currently at 52 gigawatts, that is expected to rise to 120 gigawatts in almost 20 years," Abdullah Al-Shehri, governor of Saudi Electricity and Co-generation Regulatory Authority, said at an industry conference. He said the Kingdom would need 120 gigawatts of installed capacity by 2032. Saudi Arabia wants to cut domestic oil consumption over the next several decades as it diversifies its energy mix. In February, Saudi Arabia signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with France that would provide atomic know-how to the Kingdom. Al-Shehri reiterated the Kingdom's interest in exploring the possibility of developing nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster, despite a decision by Germany Monday to exit nuclear energy by 2022. He compared the Fukushima disaster to the sinking of the Titanic, but said: "If we took this as a measure we would have stopped building ships." "I think the Japanese earthquake is an incitement to look at safety measures rather than whether we should persevere or not persevere," he said at an energy conference here in response to a question from the audience. The world's largest oil exporter is planning to broaden its energy mix to reduce the amount of crude oil it burns in power plants, freeing up more hydrocarbons for export. In February, it signed a cooperation agreement with the French nuclear engineering firm Areva SA. A spokesman for the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, the Saudi body in charge of developing nuclear plans, said earlier a new energy policy would be made public in the coming months spelling out the role of nuclear projects in the Kingdom. "The (unfortunate Fukushima) incident did not affect the choice of adding nuclear to the energy mix, however, the incident will ensure that each and every decision related to nuclear power plant development will be based on updated safety regulations, operating standards, and crisis evaluations," the spokesman said. Saudi officials and oil analysts estimate that Saudi Arabia now burns 1.1 million-1.4 million barrels a day of energy liquids, including distillates, crude oil and heavy fuel oil in its power plants. The Kingdom is experiencing soaring peak load electricity demand growth of 10 percent a year, the country's deputy electricity minister said last week.
