RIYADH — Chairman of Research, Development and Innovation at King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy Dr. Maher Al-Owdan said, 51 percent of the energy produced here is consumed in producing electricity and water. The energy resources available and produced in the Kingdom are petroleum, gas, diesel and oil. During the 5th session of the 18th annual meeting on “energy economies” for the Saudi Economic Association at King Faisal Conferences Hall, Al-Owdan said the objective for establishing King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy is to find alternative energy, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. The session was entitled: “Visions on nuclear and renewable energy in the Kingdom”. Al-Owdan added, “It is also meant to safeguard the value chains. The Kingdom has the chance to localize a number of value chains.” It is expected in the future that the quantity of desalinated water will increase to 7 million cubic meters compared to the current quantity of 5 million cubic meters. Al-Owdan said Gulf countries are the ones in the world that mostly use liquid fuel to produce energy. The rest of the world use coal and gas to produce energy. He said sustainability depends on three aspects; economic, social and environmental. Al-Owdan said introducing alternative energy would save 160,000 direct and indirect jobs. He said King Abdullah City conducted a study to measure renewable energy. Seventy stations have been installed to measure this energy. It was discovered that the best sites for benefiting from solar energy are the Northern and Western regions of the Kingdom. Meanwhile, Dr. Abdulhameed Al-Jamal, lecturer in Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) College for Medical and Applied Sciences in Al-Qassim, said Arab countries enjoy a high solar radiation with less clouds reaching 20 percent on most days of the year. This is an advantage for Arab countries in producing alternative energy. — SG
