The Saudi Arabian electricity sector will require an estimated SR700bn ($187bn) investment over the next 10 years, according to Saleh bin Hussain al-Awaji, deputy minister for water and electricity and chairman of state utility Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).

Quoted in local press, Al-Awaji said that a large proportion of the required investment was planned to come from the private sector.

Al-Awaji said that SEC was currently undertaking efforts to establish companies in cooperation with the private sector, such as independent electricity production companies, and that other major state companies producing electricity, such as state oil major Saudi Aramco, would be closely involved with the programme.

SEC is planning to implement several new power projects to boost the kingdom’s generating capacity in the coming years to cope with the expected rise in demand. Including under-construction projects, SEC is planning to add an additional 47,711MW of generation capacity to the grid by 2024.