Renewable energy is one of the pillars of Saudi Arabia’s planned Neom city in the north west of the kingdom. Its developers envision that 100% of Neom’s electricity will be generated by renewable energy. A bold ambition. And one which faces a multitude of technical challenges given continued concerns over renewable power’s intermittency and its impact on grid stability.
In some ways, Neom has an advantage as a brand-new city. “We are starting in a complete greenfield setting and we have very, very limited existing generation assets,” Thorsten Schwartz, Executive Director for Grid Technology & Projects at Neom told the Siemens Energy MEA Energy Week on 27 June. “We have no choice but to leapfrog into a system that starts with building up renewable generation,” Mr Schwartz added. (CONTINUED - 1038 WORDS)
