Middle East’s largest petrochemicals firm, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) is reportedly aiming to use more renewable energy at its sites to achieve its clean energy targets.
Hassan Ali Raboui, a scientist at SABIC said, “Renewable energy is going to play a major part in our operations in the next 10 to 15 years and to make sure this happens, we are looking to partner with independent power producers that will produce renewable energy and provide to us through the national grid. In return, we will commit [to] long term power purchase agreements to ensure bankability and financing of these projects.”
Mr. Ali Raboui outlined SABIC’s roadmap and renewable energy plan for the next ten years, at an online Mena Energy Meet event conducted by Muscat Expo.
Riyadh-based SABIC has set a goal of installing 4GW of renewable energy sources at its sites worldwide by 2025, increasing to 12GW by 2030. The goal of the company is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy intensity by 25 percent from 2010 levels in the next five years.
Earlier this year, SABIC signed an agreement with the Spanish utility company, Iberdrola for $82 million to construct a 100MW solar photovoltaic plant at its Cartagena chemical plant in southeastern Spain. When the solar plant becomes operational in 2024, the facility is expected to become the world’s first large-scale chemical manufacturing site to be operated entirely on renewable power.
According to the company, there are plans to install photovoltaic technology at SABIC’s global headquarters in Riyadh and a final-stage feasibility study is underway with Marafiq and the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu to explore a $300 million, 400-megawatt solar project on Saudi Arabia’s western coast.
“The transition to renewable energy is a crucial step to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon footprint of our products. This step will create monetary value for SABIC and our consumers as well as ensure we can meet emerging climate change regulations and consumer demand,” said Mr. Ali Raboui.
He also said that the company is also accelerating the development of technologies that emit low carbon for chemical processing.
Recently, the world’s largest oil-exporting firm, Saudi Aramco took the acquisition of a 70 percent stake in SABIC for $69.1 billion. The company posted a 47 percent rise in third-quarter net profit based on rising production and sales volume and a reversal in impairments last week. The company said last month that the net profit for the three months ending September 30 rose to $291 million.
Meanwhile, Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, Hydrogen Europe’s Secretary-General, commented during the meet that the European Union countries are investing heavily in green hydrogen ventures.
He further said that six countries including Germany, Spain, France, Portugal, Austria and Italy, have allocated $37 billion over the next ten years to invest in hydrogen projects. Hydrogen Europe is a trade organization that serves the hydrogen and fuel cell industry’s interests.
US-based multinational investment banking division under the auspices of Bank of America, BofA Securities report indicated that the development of hydrogen as a source of green fuel could develop an industry with $11 trillion of infrastructure and $2.5 trillion of annual revenues by 2050, as the abundant fuel is used to power homes and vehicles, generating 24 percent of total energy demand.
