In the presence of senior officials from the Ministry of Energy, Industry, and Mineral Resources—including Their Highnesses and Their Excellencies—as well as a select group of specialists and researchers in the electricity and renewable energy sectors from within and outside the Kingdom, The Minister of Energy, Industry, and Mineral Resources, Engineer Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, presided over the Saudi Electricity Forum, which was held at the Al-Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh, in the presence of senior officials—including Their Highnesses and Excellencies—and a select group of specialists and researchers in the electricity, and renewable energy sectors from within the Kingdom and abroad.

Essential Steps for Developing the Energy Industry

In his speech at the event, Al-Falih emphasized that this year’s forum is being held for the first time under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy, Industry, and Mineral Resources, which has become the heart of an integrated system addressing all areas of energy; noting that, God willing, the forum will become an annual event through which to identify the needs of consumers, contractors, manufacturers, and service providers, as well as to encourage investors to contribute to this vital sector.

Al-Falih said: “This forum coincides with our wise government—may God support it—taking fundamental steps to develop an integrated and diversified energy industry, encompassing the electricity sector with its conventional, renewable, and nuclear sources; with the aim of enhancing the sector’s economic and operational efficiency, boosting added value for the local economy, and localizing industries, expertise, and services related to the sector, and providing unique opportunities for construction, operation, and maintenance work—which will contribute to creating job opportunities for the national workforce—as well as high-quality specialized training programs to develop the expertise of our citizens.”

Projects with a total cost exceeding 250 billion riyals

Engineer Al-Falih noted that the electricity sector is one of the most important enablers of economic growth, as there is a close relationship between the abundance of electrical energy and economic growth, In this context, the Kingdom’s electricity sector currently faces a range of challenges and opportunities, including:

First: Improving the overall efficiency of the sector’s system and transitioning to the economically optimal energy mix for the Kingdom through a package of measures aimed at diversifying energy sources to include renewable and nuclear energy.

Second: The sector faces growing demand; studies indicate that peak load will reach 80,000 megawatts in 2022, requiring the implementation of projects over the next five years, costing more than 250 billion riyals, which we expect the private sector to lead in implementing and financing.

Third: Operating and maintaining the electricity system (which provides service to more than 8,800,000 customers across vast distances) with high reliability and reduced costs, particularly at the Electricity Company, as it is the primary service provider.

Fourth: Supporting efforts aimed at increasing the value added to the Kingdom’s economy through the electricity sector’s activities; this will be achieved by localizing industries and services that support the sector and by creating sustainable job opportunities.