
Why the Saudis Are Going Solar - piercebot
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/07/saudis-solar-energy/395315/?single_page=true
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pm24601
Maybe. If they had no oil they would be a solar superpower.

But its more than just the solar plants that they need, they need transmission
facilities to their customers outside the kingdom.

My prediction is simply this: The oil will run out, the cash will run out, and
the kingdom will collapse.

They have no cultural understanding of saving for the future. Contrast that
with Norway and the way Norway has managed their oil revenue.

[http://www.rferl.org/content/what-can-norway-teach-other-
oil...](http://www.rferl.org/content/what-can-norway-teach-other-oil-rich-
countries/26713453.html)

By the time, Saudi Arabia discovers that the move to solar is not optional -
all the other countries in the region will have moved to solar or renewable
because those countries have no choice.

~~~
g1080
Saudis running out of money is the silver lining around the ominous cloud of
peak oil !

~~~
themartorana
Why? Further destabilization in the Middle East is desirable?

It's likely Saudi Arabia is a wolf in sheep's clothing - sold to the American
people as an ally - but actually terrible in everything from human rights to
funding of radical groups.

You know, with friends like this...

Still, it's not like the rest of the region is in the best of shape. What good
could come of 30m people being dropped into abject poverty with no hope?

------
bcheung
Large expanses of unused land with plenty of sunlight. Even a 5th grader can
figure that one out.

What I want to know is, if oil is so cheap there, why isn't there more
manufacturing of petroleum based products there?

~~~
TheCowboy
One historical factor is that they have a high reliance on foreign workers in
highly skilled industries. This talent comes and goes. This can't be changed
overnight, and the education system does have a strong religious component
that is likely not going away. I've also read that culture impedes the
receptiveness of young men to education.

Another factor is that crude oil travels better. Some of the more lucrative
products have a limited shelf life. Gasoline's life is measured in months.

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aaron695
> According to a widely read December 2011 report by Chatham House, a British
> think tank, if this trend continues, domestic consumption could eat into
> Saudi oil exports by 2021 and render the kingdom a net oil importer by 2038

The article seems logically broken.

If shipping oil to another county is cheaper for that country than solar why
does SA want solar? They are losing even more money.

And why not just import coal like everyone else.

Seems to me it's about energy security and the fact burning oil for
electricity has less worth than the other uses which they can on sell it for.

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seizethecheese
Saudis make outsized profits because they can export their oil around the
world. Although they will be very efficient at producing power from the sun, I
doubt it will be enough to counteract losses from electricity transmission.
Cheap power for themselves and close neighbors will not translate into world-
beating wealth.

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MichaelCrawford
I first read about Saudi Arabia's solar power efforts in 1978 or so, in Sky
and Telescope magazine. More or less what it said was that they didn't expect
oil to last forever.

There are many cultures where they take a far longer term view then do my
fellow Americans.

~~~
adventured
You mean the America that invented the photovoltaic industry courtesy of Bell
Labs?

The one that is among the leading nations on solar, wind and nuclear?

The one that has several of the world's largest, most successful independent
solar companies, including First Solar, SunPower, SunEdison, and SolarCity?
The same America that is undergoing a vast, rapid solar boom?

"Residential Solar Grows by 76% over Q1 2014"

"The U.S. installed 1,306 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaics (PV) in the
first quarter of 2015 to reach 21.3 gigawatts (GW) of total installed
capacity, enough to power 4.3 million American homes. 51 percent of new
electric generating capacity came from solar in Q1 2015, and the residential
and utility-scale segments each added more capacity than the natural gas
industry."

[http://www.seia.org/research-resources/us-solar-market-
insig...](http://www.seia.org/research-resources/us-solar-market-insight)

Remind me again in what way Saudi Arabia is taking a longer term view than the
US is.

~~~
mikeyouse
Especially when the global map of solar irradiance looks like this:

[http://i.imgur.com/CIcFQYU.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/CIcFQYU.jpg)

Which makes solar plays in the Middle East much more economically viable as
compared to in the US (although to be fair, as a opportunity cost, their fuel
prices are much lower..)

~~~
kldavis4
Any idea why this shows equatorial regions as having lower irradiance than
other areas? It seems unintuitive to me.

~~~
Double_Cast
Places on the equator (0 degrees) tend to be rain forests. Places on the
tropics of cancer/capricorn (30 degrees) tend to be deserts. This is due to
the way the upper atmosphere works.

Air that rises tends to rain. Air that falls tends to be cloudless. This is
because of how the dewpoint changes at different altitudes.

[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=jet+streams&ia=images&iai=http%3A%...](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=jet+streams&ia=images&iai=http%3A%2F%2Ffr.cdn.v5.futura-
sciences.com%2Fbuilds%2Fimages%2Frte%2FRTEmagicC_13182_courant-jet-
physicalgeography_01_txdam35585_9dd4e4.jpg)

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pottytalk
Its because they have lots of sun. what the hell kind of title is that? Might
as well have been titles "Why are people utilizing the natural resources that
are abundantly available to them?" OMFg. "Read more after the jump" dude are
you fucking serious. Unreal.

~~~
x5n1
No it's because they have a radical ideology!

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anpat
Looks like one of those image-cleaning planted articles.

