Saudi Renewables Surge To Displace Direct Oil Burn

20 Jun 2025 Issue: 68 / 25 By: Jamie Ingram

Saudi is on track to overtake the UAE as the GCC’s leading renewables player this year, having come within 2.5TWh of its neighbor in 2024. By the end of the year, renewables could be displacing more than 150,000 b/d of oil from Saudi Arabia’s power sector.

Saudi Arabia’s renewable power generation more than doubled to a record 11TWh last year as it brought online 3.7GW of new solar capacity. This left Saudi Arabia just 2.4TWh behind the region’s renewables leader, the UAE, last year and continued capacity growth means that it is set to jump ahead of its neighbor this year.

The bulk of last year’s renewables growth came online towards the end of the year – the 2.66GW Shuaibah complex was connected to the grid in Q4 (MEES, 6 December 2024) – and the kingdom is on track to add another 6.16GW of capacity this year, bringing total installed capacity to 12.7GW. MEES calculates that current capacity is capable of generating 19TWh on an annualized basis, and that this rises to 36TWh by the end of the year. (CONTINUED - 672 WORDS)