King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE) presents this Renewable Resource Atlas of Saudi Arabia in support of achievement of a sustainable energy mix.
The Atlas provides newly collected and historical solar and wind resource monitoring data, plus satellite-based modeled data, for use by developers, researchers, government institutions, and policy-makers. The Atlas is currently free of charge, and will continue to grow as a foundational program of K.A.CARE.
The launch of Saudi Arabia’s Renewable Resource Atlas on 18 December, 2013 was attended by hundreds of policy makers, utility companies, academic entities and industry players in the presence of Saudi Minister of Water and Electricity H.E. Abdullah Al-Hussayen; President of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE) H.E. Dr. Hashim Yamani; and President of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) H.E. Dr. Mohammed Al-Suwaiyel.
These included ACWA Power, Abengoa, Enel Green Power, Siemens, ABB, AREVA Solar, Alstom, International Solar Energy Society, CH2MHILL, Bechtel as well as International Renewable Energy Agency, Masdar and Deutsche Bank.
The Atlas will help developers evaluate project sites in the kingdom to determine the best locations, plan operations and maintenance, and even plan outages. For financiers, having accurate data will enable them to make sound financial decisions, as suggested by Deutsche Bank, while for technology developers, the data will help them develop the right technology for the country.