The Saudi Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources said on Tuesday it targets reducing the use of liquid fuels, which is utilized to produce electricity, from 50 percent in 2017 to five percent by the year 2030. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said the “renewable energy is part of what Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced about the Kingdom’s plan to produce 200 gigawatts, allowing it to be “a global hub of renewable energy.” “The Public Investment Fund and its selected partners will develop 70 per of the total renewable energy capacity with the objective of accelerating localization of our manufacturing capability,” said Falih. “The Ministry, meanwhile, will continue driving breakthrough prices through the Renewable Energy Project Development Office by competitively tendering the remaining 30 percent.” The objective, according to Falih, is to transform Saudi Arabia into an industrial platform, develop projects, attract major investments in the field of manufacturing and developing technologies and scientific research and develop future technologies. According to the Saudi Minister, demand for electricity will rise 40 percent by 2030, indicating that this rise is based on economic growth instead of increasing consumption rates. He said Saudi Arabia has effective programs to increase the efficiency of production and they have shown to great results as is evident in the slowdown in electricity consumption. The Kingdom has already begun switching from burning of crude to gas-fired power plants. “Over the coming decades, liquids burning in our utilities which takes over 50 percent of our power generation and a significant proportion of our water distillation will be virtually eliminated,” Falih noted. The Saudi Energy Minister explained that despite the increase in the proportion of consumption and total energy production of electricity, the share of gas in the power generation mix will grow from 50 percent currently to 70 percent over the next 12 years. This means totally dispensing the use of liquid oil and saving 600 thousand barrels that are burned nowadays to produce electricity.