(MENAFN) Saudi Arabia King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, the government body in charge of overseeing a number of projects, said that the kingdom's plans to build nuclear and solar energy projects have been pushed back and will take about eight years longer to complete than originally intended, Arabian Business reported.
In 2012, the world's top oil exporter said it would install 17 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2032 as well as around 41 GW of solar capacity.
"The plan started by looking at 20 years down the road, with the year 2032 as the major milestone for long-term planning. Recently, however, we have revised the outlook together with our stakeholders to focus on 2040 as the major milestone for long-term energy planning in Saudi Arabia," President of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy said.
Although Saudi Arabia has plenty of financial resources to build the projects, it faces technical challenges, limited supplies of water for use in the plants, and potential bureaucratic obstacles, which are probably causing the delay despite Saudi's urgent need for such projects as its power demand is growing 8 percent annually.
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