RIYADH: Saudi Arabia plans to generate 15109 gigawatt hours of electricity from renewable sources by 2024, supplying 692,557 houses with energy, the Kingdom’s Gastat said on its website.

The projects, to be implemented under the National Renewable Energy Program, aim to provide 7,870 job opportunities by the end of 2024, it said.

As the amount of fossil fuel consumed shall be reduced, these projects would contribute to decreasing carbon dioxide emissions by 9,828,156 ton per year by 2024.

The number of projects to be implemented under the Program has reached 13 with a total capacity of 4,870 megawatts.

Solar energy projects will account for the majority of energy produced, making up 91.8 percent.

In particular, the Sedar Solar PV Plant Project will have a capacity of 1,500 MW which corresponds to a share of 30.8 percent of the 13 projects’ total capacity.

This project will also be solely responsible for the energy supply of 185,000 houses, as well as provide 970 jobs.

Rass Solar is another project with a large capacity, estimated at 700 MW, and is set to furnish over 103,000 houses with energy and deliver 980 jobs.

The sole wind energy project, the Dumat Al-Jandal Wind Power Project, will only account for 8.2 percent of the capacity.

In 2020, the total global horizontal irradiance, also known as GHI, in Saudi Arabia was valued at 27,615 watts an hour per meter square per day, or Wh/m2/day.

This indicator is a measure of the total amount of short solar irradiance falling on horizontal solar panels, which is used to produce electrical energy in solar panel cells.

The Southern Region accounted for 21.6 percent of the Kingdom’s total GHI.