Saudi Arabia expects renewable sources to contribute greater amounts to its total energy consumption as its need for power triples over the next two decades.

Vision Electro Mechanical Company, a subsidiary of Saudi based Construction Products Holding Company (CPC), plans to construct a 130KW solar power plant in the Kingdoms Bahra region in alliance with California-based SolFocus.

Oman will take a major step in establishing its solar energy industry when the government launches the competitive process for the procurement of a large-scale solar power project during the first half of next year.

Power generation equipment and services supplier, Alstom, has announced the strengthening of its renewables portfolio through a partnership with BrightSource Energy Inc. Alstoms move into the high-growth solar energy market comes in the form of an investment of up to US$55mn in BrightSource Energy Inc, with an equity stake that positions Alstom as one of the main shareholders in the company.
The deal takes place as part of a capital increase of US$150mn organised by BrightSource, a privately-owned company that specialises in designing, building and operating tower based solar thermal power plants.