Saudi Arabia eyes $109bn plan for solar industry
Saudi Arabia is seeking investors in a $109bn plan to create a solar industry that generates a third of the nation’s electricity within two decades, according to officials at the government agency developing the plan.
The world’s largest crude oil exporter aims to have 41,000 megawatts of solar capacity by 2032, said Maher al-Odan, a consultant at the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy.
Khalid al-Suliman, vice president for the organisation known as Ka-care, said that nuclear, wind and geothermal would contribute 21,000 megawatts.
“We are not only looking for building solar plants,” al-Odan said in an interview in Riyadh. “We want to run a sustainable solar energy sector that will become a driver for the domestic energy for years to come.”
The comments highlight the scale of Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to boost renewable energy use as a way to pare back on oil consumption used for domestic desalinisation and power plants, potentially saving 523,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day over the next 20 years.
For the solar panel manufacturers such as First Solar and SunPower Corp, the Saudi Arabian market would open a huge new market as European countries reduce subsidies to keep a lid on installations.
Panel sales may dip this year for the first time in more than a decade from 27,700 megawatts installed last year, according to a survey of analysts by Bloomberg on March 9.
“These markets are likely to be a lot less profitable than existing markets,” Vishal Shah, an analyst at Deutsche Bank in New York, wrote in a note to clients on Thursday, noting the Saudis may require bid winners to supply from factories built in the nation.
“It looks like both First Solar and SunPower would need to set up local manufacturing.”
Ka-care is the government agency set up in April 2010 to oversee the nation’s renewable energy strategy. Its plans are likely to be approved later this year, al-Suliman said, according to a copy of the Read more »
KSA says should aim for 41 GW solar by 2032
Saudi Arabia should install much more solar power over the next 20 years than any country has managed so far while building around 21 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear reactors, the body responsible for planning the Saudi energy mix said on Tuesday.
The King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) – set up to advise on the energy mix – has concluded the kingdom should try to build nearly 41 GW of solar capacity, enough to meet a third of expected peak power demand in 2032, while a sixth of installed capacity should come from nuclear and about half from oil and gas.
“I’m confident Saudi Arabia will approve a diversified energy mix this year,” Khalid al-Sulaiman, vice president for renewable energy at KACARE, told Reuters after a presentation outlining KACARE’s recommendation to the Saudi government.
KACARE said the Kingdom should aim to build 16 GW of solar photovoltaic capacity and about 25 GW of concentrated solar power capacity by 2032.
The world’s largest oil producer has built a negligible amount of solar power capacity to date, less than 50 megawatts, after saying a few years ago it would become a major solar power but the target of 41,000 MW, if met, would propel it towards the top of the solar power table.
World solar leader Germany installed more than 7,000 MW in both 2010 and 2011, raising its total at the end of last year to 25,000 MW.
Solar power could help meet peak demand for power in a country where electricity surges in summer, in combination with Saudi oil and gas fired power plants.
Under most of the scenarios model led by KA-CARE, nuclear energy emerged as one of the best ways for generating “baseload” electricity, and the 21 GW target implies more reactors being built in the kingdom over the next 20 years than those currently planned by any other country other than China, India, Russia and the US, according to World Nuclear Association data.
Source: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/ksa-says-should-aim-for-41-gw-solar-by-2032-457041.html
More than a third of engineering graduates can’t do basic maths
A bag is full of 20 bananas and no other fruit. Rajeev draws a fruit from the bag. What is the probability that he will draw a banana?
An embarrassing 30 per cent of the country’s engineers cannot solve a problem as simple as the one above, a study has found.
Their ineptitude, however, is not limited to just sums of probability. It’s worse as over one-third engineers do not possess mathematical skills needed in day-today life for doing simple transactions, counting and arranging.
Study says more than one third of the engineering graduates do not have simple mathematical skillsIn other words, they have a weak understanding of concepts as elementary as decimals, powers, operations, ratio, fractions and the ability to apply these concepts to real-world problems.
Raising serious questions about the quality of education in schools and engineering institute, the study states, ‘These skills are required in all engineering and analytics jobs in the knowledge-based industry. For instance, an engineer who cannot multiply/divide decimal numbers (the total being an alarming 42 per cent) would face difficulty in doing basic engineering calculations.’
The study, released by Aspiring Minds, is based on the results of more than 55,000 students from over 250 engineering institutes who took AMCAT test. The engineers had graduated in 2011.
Aspiring Minds, started by MIT alumnus Varun Aggarwal and IITDelhi graduate Himanshu Aggarwal in 2008, this standardised tests, whose test scores are used by top companies to recruit freshers.
Almost 30,000 students take this test every month. The report also raises concern over the language skills of the fresh engineering graduates.
Given the importance accorded to a candidates fluency in English during the interview process, the report states that a sizeable chunk of the engineers are far from impressing the recruiters they don’t have the ‘English comprehension skills to understand engineering school curriculum’.
‘Twenty Read more »
LED light bulb to last more than 20 years
Light bulbs that are said to last for more than two decades while consuming very little energy may go on sale later this year.
US firm General Electric, Dutch company Philips and UK-based Sylvania all showcased their products at the Light Fair industry conference in Las Vegas.
Using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of filaments, the bulbs are meant to produce as much light as a 100-watt incandescent alternative.
However, LEDs are not usually cheap.
In April, Philips introduced its LPrize LED that will cost $60 (
25% of engineers lack skills
“Students always make a mad rush for engineering and medical courses without knowing their aptitude and capabilities. According to NASSCOM, 25% of ‘engineers’ remain unemployed due to a lack of skills. This highlights the importance of an aptitude test and counselling before deciding one’s career,” said Rajesh Tope, minister of higher and technical education.
Tope was interacting with a huge crowd of students and parents gathered at DNA’s career fair Eduscope on Saturday morning, at Bombay Exhibition Centre at Goregaon. Praising DNA’s effort to bring students and parents under one roof to provide aptitude tests and free career counselling before deciding their career plans, Tope asked students to take a look at other courses as well.
Tope dropped in half an hour before scheduled, and interacted with people at length. He explained the meaning of GDP to young students and added that “India’s GDP of 7% gives students’ tremendous opportunities in many other fields. So, to sustain the growth rate, the technical education department has to provide human resources for manufacturing, services and 28 sectors.”
Asking students to go for an aptitude test before joining any course after 10+2, Tope said, “In India, vocational courses are not seen as having any dignity, while western countries don’t have such biases. We need to change our mindset for such courses.”
He added that according to Prime Minister Skill Development Mission, 50% of the manpower needs to be vocationally trained.
The director of iball Neeraj Damia, and CEO of Young Buzz Pranav Gandhi were also present at the launch, along with vice president of ITM group Prof RSS Mani. Close to 1,000 students and parents attended the career fair and the four seminars on career guidance. Students appeared for career aptitude tests along with free career counselling sessions. The fair will continue on Sunday.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_25pct-of-engineers-lack-skills-rajesh-tope_1685011
