United Arab Emirates
RIYADH: As part of its strategy to promote sustainable tourism, Saudi Arabia’s The Red Sea Development Co. has announced its plans to use biofuels to operate all its tourist facilities, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
TRSDC has chosen the German firm MAN Energy Solutions to supply it with 25 sets of biofuel generators with a total production capacity of 112 MW.
As Saudi’s iconic tourist destination will rely on renewable energy supplies rather than the national electricity grid, the infrastructure of the Red Sea project will be powered by solar plants that will include storage batteries powered by MAN gensets in six different locations.
This is part of the comprehensive renewable energy supply infrastructure being developed by a consortium led by the Saudi developer and ACWA Power.
Even if solar energy is not available, the energy source claims to be completely climate-neutral, thanks to biofuels run by gensets, according to the CEO of TRSDC.
FastFacts
The Red Sea Development Company was established in 2018 and is wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund.
The site covers more than 28,000 square kilometers on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.
It will comprise more than 90 islands — 75 percent of which will remain undeveloped.
The Red Sea Project will have its own airport.
By 2030, it is expected that 22 islands will be developed along with six inland sites, and there will be 48 hotels hosting 8,000 rooms.
The biofuel used is B100, a type of biodiesel. Such fuels often require expert assessment of their sustainability credentials, to verify where and how exactly the crops they were produced from were grown.
“The importance of the Red Sea destination lies in its support for the economic diversification strategy pursued by Saudi Arabia by providing job opportunities, encouraging entrepreneurship, and attracting local and foreign investments in the Kingdom, as part of Vision 2030,” Saudi Press Agency reported, citing John Pagano, the firm’s CEO.
