Saudi Arabian oil major Aramco intends to generate 12 GW of renewable energy by 2030.

In its recent sustainability report, the company said it aims to use the allocation of renewable energy credits from the investments to decarbonize the power supply in Aramco’s operations.

With over 300 days of sunlight, Saudi Arabia has great potential for deploying solar energy.

To further utilize the renewable resources in the region, the Saudi government established a National Renewable Energy Program to increase the renewable generation capacity beyond 58 GW by the end of the decade, which comprises 40 GW of planned capacity from solar and 16 GW from wind energy. The remaining capacity would be derived from other clean energy sources.

To help the Saudi government in its efforts to operationalize renewable resources, Saudi Aramco Power Company, a subsidiary of Aramco last year, joined a consortium led by ACWA Power to develop the 1.5 GW Sudair solar project.

The Sudair investment marked Aramco’s first participation in Saudi’s clean energy program. The project’s first phase is expected to commence operations by the second half of 2022.

The sustainability report highlights Aramco’s plans to reduce the energy consumption at all of its facilities, design new energy-efficient units, and increase overall energy efficiency across domains.

The oil company aims to establish a framework for in-company renewable applications supported by a mix of grid-connected and off-grid solutions, including office buildings, valve stations, cathodic pipeline protection, bulk plants, and production wells.

The report also outlines a pathway for Aramco to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across all its wholly-owned operating assets by 2050, delivering continued affordable and reliable energy solutions. The company is mulling strategies to mitigate more than 50 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent annually by 2035, both in its upstream and downstream segments.

Aramco said it would initially reduce its upstream carbon intensity by 15% to 8.7 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent (CO2e/boe) against a 2018 baseline of 10.2 kg CO2e/boe.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Statistics said the country plans to generate 15.1 TWh of renewable energy annually in the next two years to meet the power requirements of 692,557 households.

The National Renewable Energy Program announced by the government encompasses 13 projects with a total capacity of 4.8 GW, including solar accounting for 91.8% at 4.4 GW and wind representing 8.2% at 400 MW capacity.