"By 2030, our economy will run entirely on dance music."
Posted on 05/24/2015 9:56:56 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
Saudi Arabia's oil minister has said the country will switch its energy focus to solar power as the nation envisages an end to fossil fuels, possibly around 2040-2050, Reuters reports.
"In Saudi Arabia, we recognise that eventually, one of these days, we are not going to need fossil fuels, I don't know when, in 2040, 2050... so we have embarked on a program to develop solar energy," Ali Al-Naimi told a business and climate conference in Paris, the news service reports.
"Hopefully, one of these days, instead of exporting fossil fuels, we will be exporting gigawatts, electric ones. Does that sound good?"
Reuters reports that the minster added that he still expected the world's energy mix to be dominated by fossil fuels in the near future.
The Boston Globe adds that the minister said oil prices as low as $US30-$40 a barrel would not make solar power uneconomic.
I would expect the Saudis to be as truthful on this topic as they are on most others.
Yes, this is a head fake.
One big barrier for them, is their insistence on only doing business with Muslims.
The late King Abdullah, who died in January this year, had pinned his hopes for his country's future on the innovative builds, with oil supplies naturally dwindling. The project is part of Saudi Arabia's efforts to 'diversify away from oil' and create jobs.
"By 2030, our economy will run entirely on dance music."
“I would expect the Saudis to be as truthful on this topic as they are on most others.”
Agreed, though there’s probably a bit of truth in it also. They’ll do some solar, they are in the right place for it. As far as exporting electricity, uh, not anytime soon.
The more interesting question is, “What are they worried about?” Because they are very worried about something.
Notice the difference between this and Iran. Saudis say that solar is the way to go. Iran says nuclear is the way to go.
Is the intent here to make a very clear differentiator?
"I summon my blue-eyed slaves anytime it pleases me. I command the Americans to send me their bravest soldiers to die for me. Anytime I clap my hands a stupid genie called the American ambassador appears to do my bidding. When the Americans die in my service their bodies are frozen in metal boxes by the US Embassy and American airplanes carry them away, as if they never existed. Truly, America is my favorite slave." King Fahd Bin Abdul-Aziz, Jeddeh 1993
We are now no longer in Saudi Arabia. We also no longer come when called, and everyone in the middle east knows it. Everything happening in the middle east right now is due to us leaving Saudi Arabia and Iraq, with everyone else is now trying to fill the void. Saudi Arabia sees Iran developing nukes, and threatening to destroy Saudi Arabia. Iraq is disintegrating, and ISIS is very popular within Saudi Arabia. The royal family see this as a very critical moment for their continued existence..
Of course, solar energy doesn’t replace oil, it replaces coal.
Oil is mostly used as a transportation fuel, it isn’t used to supply the grid.
Diversify onto what? They cannot export solar energy. The Saudis are as stupid as their religion. They own nothing but sand, their oil revenues were a discovery by Americans, i.e. “Aramco,” and their continued wealth is dependent on oil wealth buying other investments, witness Abu Thalid. This is a joke. Solar will never replace crude oil, ever. “And I have made the earth livable,” —God. Paul Ehrlich comes to mind, the fool that he is in loosing the bet to Julian Simon. The greatest resource is the mind of man, created by God.
Go big time! Manufacture Hula Hoops.
Looks like a good idea, considering their climate and all. In the meantime, they can poke more holes in their oil fields and further flood the world market with oil. Let’s see it go down to $30 or less for several years!
As well as in pharmaceutical, agrochemicals and plastic raw materials
Lolololol
In the meantime there are drill rigs EVERYWHERE in the Ghawar Oil Field.
That sounds like an argument that Americans a re stupid, not Saudis.
Ha...been there done that....with big losses:
Abu Dhabi is shopping its way into the solar industry.
Michael Kanellos: May 29, 2008, 2:57 AM
Masdar PV, the solar subsidiary of the multibillion-dollar cleantech effort, will invest approximately $2 billion into thin film silicon solar plants. The first plant, in Erfurt, Germany, will be open by the third quarter of next year. A second facility in Abu Dhabi will be open by the second quarter of 2010. The two plants will have a production capacity of 210 megawatts.
And how are they going to get there? With help from Applied Materials. The semiconductor equipment maker is selling Masdar three SunFab thin film lines. Think of the SunFab line as a solar factory in a box. Applied produces turnkey production lines and then sells it to well-heeled customers. Applied customers will have around 278 megawatts of capacity in the ground by the end of this year and the figure is expected to climb to 4.2 gigawatts by 2012.
Fast forward to 2010....
Applied Materials, the semiconductor equipment giant, said on Wednesday that it will discontinue the SunFab line for thin-film solar panels and cut about 500 workers. It's the end of a saga. Applied jumped into the amorphous silicon solar business in 2006 through acquisitions and talked about ultimately creating factories that would produce gigawatts worth of solar panels a year. The center of the strategy was SunFab, a factory-in-a-box. The company landed early clients like Signet Solar, Suntech and Masdar PV.
"The thin film market has been negatively impacted by several factors, including delays in utility-scale solar adoption, solar panel manufacturers' challenges in obtaining affordable capital, changes and uncertainty in government renewable energy policies, and competitive pressure from crystalline silicon technologies," said CEO Mike Splinter in a prepared statement.
The restructuring will cut about $100 million in operating expenses
I have been a solar skeptic since the 1980’s when I went to Engineering school and learned about the math behind energy. The biggest assumptions solar advocates were always wrong on was that solar efficiency would automatically rise and that solar prices would come down automatically in the same ways that other technology, like computers did.
In fact, the gains on both fronts have been painfully slow, but even I am beginning to admit some progress. Some panels now have up to 20% efficiency, a 25 year life, and the cost has come down because of the chinese getting into the business in a big way.
At this point a system for a modern 3/2 1500 sf southern house with plenty of AC, that could produce and sell back to the utility enough energy to have a net zero power bill, would cost less than $50k. For this you probably need a system with a 20 kw size so you can keep that AC compressor running all day AND sell back the excess to cover you at night.
Knock off an extra 30% for federal tax credits and you are on to something.
Because they are very worried about something
Maybe some of their wells are starting to tap out sooner than they expected but they haven’t admitted it yet!
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