REUTERS
The world’s largest crude exporter Saudi Arabia is focusing on renewable-energy sources such as solar power in preparation for a post-oil global economy, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said at a conference in Berlin on Thursday, Bloomberg reported.
Still, he does not expect that era to dawn any time soon, estimating that consumers will still be burning fossil fuels for at least another 50 years, Bloomberg wrote.
"I don’t think there is a more ideal country for renewables than Saudi Arabia," given its abundant sunshine, available land and plentiful sand, which is needed for making solar panels, al-Naimi said.
Read alsoOil producers announce meeting on output freeze in Qatar on April 17It is not the first time that OPEC's de facto leader has signaled that, with governments pledging to limit global temperature increases, it is taking steps to prepare for an age beyond oil. At a climate conference in Paris last May, al-Naimi said Saudi Arabia plans to "be exporting gigawatts of electric power" generated from solar panels in coming decades, according to the report.