Saudi Arabia: Mecca to become first solar city [View all]

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http://www.thenewstribe.com/2012/09/29/saudi-arabia-mecca-to-become-first-solar-city/

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Saudi Arabia: Mecca to become first solar city[/font]
By Areeb Hasni - Sep 29th, 2012

[font size=3]Jeddah: Mecca, the birthplace of Muhammad (PBUH), and Islam’s holiest city, has planned to become the first city in Saudi Arabia to run completely on solar power.

Osama al-Bar, the Mayor of Mecca, is inviting bids to build a large renewable energy plant, with a key component dedicated to solar energy, a first step towards achieving its stated ambition of becoming a solar powerhouse. The winner will be announced on January 5, 2013.

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The Saudi Arabian government has said that it will invest $109 billion to establish a strong solar industry across the nation. The King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy program is the jewel in this crown, and aims to develop 41 gigawatts of solar capacity over the next 20 years. 25 gigawatts will be installed in the form of solar thermal plants, and the remaining 16 gigawatts will be supplied by photovoltaic panels.

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The city will need 385 gigawatt-hours of power each year and the whole project should be finished by 2018.

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