Don't let the sun go down on Saudi

Today I stumbled upon an article about Saudi Arabia which produced a little flutter of excitement in me. Mildly progressive policy towards women aside, this does not happen very often when reading news about the Kingdom. So what is this wonderful and exciting development, I hear you say? The answer: a headline on the website of United Press International which reads: Sign of the times: Saudi goes solar. The article reports that "Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil producer, has completed its biggest solar power plant as the Persian Gulf petro-powers increasingly turn to solar energy and other renewables".

The Saudi empty quarter - lots of sand and sun

Actually, on second thoughts, let me replace my previous excitement with a sigh of aah - finally! I have often worried about Saudi Arabia's forward planning. With a quarter of the world's known oil reserves under their sand and soil it still amazes me that the Saud's do not boast the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. Instead this accolade passes between far more canny states, including Abu Dhabi, a close neighbour and sometime topic of this blog. 

Now is not the time to go into the reasons for Saudi's lack of saved sovereign wealth (this has got me thinking that I should post about Saudi Arabia and the concept of a Rentier State). But I will say how nice it is to see Riyadh taking steps to plan for the future! Saudi Arabia plays host to the largest sand desert in the world (see picture for an idea of what a lot of sand looks like), known as الربع الخالي‎ or A-rub al-Khali, or The Empty Quarter - approximately 650,000 sq kms of sand, with an awful lot of annual sunlight, and tremendous potential as a powerful source of solar energy. 

As Saudi Arabia has made a conscious decision to ignore all history prior to the advent of Islam in AD 622, there is little post-Islamic history in the Empty Quarter which will be damaged by some solar farms. I for one would like to see Saudi Arabia become a hub for renewable energy. The optimist in me hopes that if the country is involved in progressive and modern energy policy, this could infiltrate the archaic politics of this extraordinary Kingdom. So, to paraphrase the great Sir Elton: don't let the sun go down on Saudi.