Saudi Aramco today marked the commissioning of the Kingdom's first wind energy turbine, providing electricity to its bulk plant facility in Turaif in northwestern Saudi Arabia.The project, developed in partnership with GE, marked a new milestone in Saudi Aramco's plan towards realizing the 9.5 gigawatt (GW) national renewable energy target defined in Saudi Vision 2030. In a statement to Saudi Press Aegncy (SPA), the commissioning event of the wind energy station was attended by Abdulkarim Ghamdi, Saudi Aramco Executive Director for Power Systems, Anne McEntee, VP & CEO GE Onshore Wind – Renewables; Ruhan Temeltas, Regional Leader GE Renewables; Zaher Ibrahim, CEO GE Oil & Gas, Saudi Arabia, and a number of local dignitaries and business leaders. For several years, Saudi Aramco has invested to develop high potential sites for wind energy in Saudi Arabia. Sites across the Kingdom have significant resource potential, and may generate some of the lowest cost electricity globally. Delivering new energy through renewables reduces the Kingdom's greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to global climate action outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement. Domestically, committing the Kingdom to renewable energy is part of the National Transformation Plan (NTP) and Vision 2030. Through NTP, the Kingdom is targeting 3.45GW of renewable energy by 2020, on the way to 9.5GW by 2023. The Ministry of Energy is leading the launch of the National Renewable Energy Program which will be phased and systemic in its pursuit of long-term goals where Saudi Aramco is a key stakeholder in this effort. --More
