The prospects for coal-fired power generation in Saudi Arabia

  • Focus Area -
  • Type KAPSARC journal article
  • Date 19 October 2016
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Abstract

Almost all of Saudi Arabia’s electric power generation is fueled by oil and gas. Plans for future capacity envisage nuclear and renewables supplementing this mix and thereby freeing up oil for other revenue-generating opportunities. Coal-fired generation has been promoted in some Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries but not, so far, in the Kingdom. Our analysis finds that: • Imported coal would provide lower cost generation than either solar or nuclear power in the near-term.• At current administered prices of oil and gas, other resources of energy such as solar, nuclear, or imported coal are not competitive for power generation.• If decisions were made based on deregulated oil and gas prices: ○ At the reference coal price, only moderate levels of coal-fired capacity would be introduced. Having remaining capacity comprised of nuclear and solar would result in lower Saudi CO2 emissions from power generation than under a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario.○ At the low coal price, CO2 emissions in 2030 cannot be maintained at their current level since coal, rather than solar and nuclear, is used to displace oil and gas from the generation fuel mix.Some forecasts of coal markets anticipate significant increases in real export prices, which would make coal-fired power generation unattractive compared to nuclear power. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309595330_The_prospects_for_coal-fired_power_generation_in_Saudi_Arabia

Energy Strategy Reviews

Authors

Walid Matar

Walid Matar

Research Fellow Walid works on modeling energy systems. He is developing or has developed the following components of the KAPSARC Energy Model… Walid works on modeling energy systems. He is developing or has developed the following components of the KAPSARC Energy Model (KEM): electric power generation, oil refining, petrochemicals and fertilizers, cement production, and iron and steel. He is also working on a bottom-up residential electricity use framework that merges microeconomics with the physical laws governing electricity use.

Expertise

  • Energy Systems Modeling
  • Optimization
  • Electricity Prices
  • Energy Efficiency and the Interdisciplinary Connection Between Energy Economics and Engineering

Publications See all Walid Matar’s publications

Rodrigo Echeverri

Rodrigo Echeverri

Axel Pierru

Axel Pierru

Acting Vice President/ Program Director In February 2023, Axel Pierru was assigned as Acting Vice President of Knowledge and Analysis for the Center. He received…

In February 2023, Axel Pierru was assigned as Acting Vice President of Knowledge and Analysis for the Center. He received his Ph.D. in economics from University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne (France). He also holds an HDR degree, which is a French accreditation to supervise research. In 2007, Dr. Pierru was appointed Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (knighthood award in the academic field) by the French Ministry for National Education. He is the recipient of the 2023 OPEC Award for the Best Energy Research Paper (issued by OPEC for the first time).

In 2011 Dr. Pierru joined KAPSARC in Saudi Arabia, after spending 15 years at IFP Energies Nouvelles (France) where he led research, consulting and training projects and taught energy economics and finance to postgraduate students.

Dr. Pierru has served in various leadership positions at KAPSARC, including as interim Vice President for Research. Since 2014 he has been a program director, and currently he leads the Energy Macro & Micro-economics Program.

He undertakes applied research that combines methodological innovation with practical relevance for policymaking. His expertise covers energy economics, policy, finance, modeling, the oil market, and commodity-exporting economies.

Dr. Pierru has a proven track record of methodological innovations with 50 journal papers to his name. He has been a key contributor to the development of novel lines of research, such as the role of OPEC in stabilizing the oil market, the economic modeling of price controls, or the evaluation of investment projects by international oil companies facing various tax systems.

He also coauthored with Denis Babusiaux the book Corporate Investment Decisions and Economic Analysis: Exercises and Case Studies (2005), which is the fruit of years of teaching, consulting and research, and contains numerous examples from the energysector.

Expertise

  • Energy modelling
  • Energy economics
  • Energy policy
  • Oil pricing and finance

Publications See all Axel Pierru’s publications

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