Saudi Arabia celebrates moment in the sun

Belated progress on a plethora of renewables schemes signals newfound political will behind clean energy development

Riyadh has spent nearly a decade accruing an unenviable reputation for pronouncing extravagant yet unfulfilled ambitions for its still-nascent renewables sector. In March, true to form, crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) unveiled a new environmental blueprint not only for the fossil fuel-loving kingdom but for the entire region. However, on 9 April, MbS was able to celebrate three concrete milestones in the government’s drive to generate at least half of the country’s electricity from clean sources by the end of the decade as the first utility-scale plant came onstream and the key project agreements were signed on both the largest and cheapest of the schemes in the len