2015 was a significant growth year for world’s current larger wind power markets – China, the United States, Germany, India and Brazil – but experts’ projections have identified significant potential in other regions, such as the Middle East and Africa, Asia and Latin America, which are expected to lead the market in the next decade.
Clean, renewable energy from a range of sources is becoming increasingly important in the bid to deliver sustainable growth, improved living standards and enhanced job opportunities – which is why wind power is a central part of any future energy mix, particularly in energy-intensive regions like the Middle East.
In a natural progression of our proven expertise in the solar energy sector, we are assessing the potential of locations where we have solar facilities for wind energy projects. This will enable us to lead the continuing and rapid transition to clean energy across the world.
Through FRV, Abdul Latif Jameel Energy is already diversifying into wind energy in Saudi Arabia. It will exploit favorable climate conditions in the country’s northeast, central and western regions to align the development of such opportunities to support the government’s renewable energy targets, outlined in its Vision 2030 and National Development Plan.
Over the past year, leveraging on our geographical footprint, several wind opportunities in different stages of development have been assessed, including promising markets such as Jordan and Turkey. Greenfield activities have also been launched in Latin America, where several promising sites have been identified.
We are currently exploring over 1GW of power generation potential in nine greenfield and 35 brownfield sites across 20 markets.
Potential in our wind project pipeline across 20 markets.
Omar Al-Madhi
Chief Executive Officer, Saudi Arabia
Abdul Latif Jameel Energy
Rafael Benjumea
Co-Founder, FRV
Increase in global wind installations for 2015
Middle East and Africa cummulative wind power forecast by 2020 - GWEC
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