During a busy week for renewable energy in the MENA region, Saudi Arabia said it hoped to meet up to 10 per cent of its power demand from renewable sources by 2020, Abu Dhabi and Jordan made progress on solar projects, and Morocco was reportedly close to awarding a wind-power contract. Saudi Arabia was studying wind, geothermal and solar energy potential, Ahmad al Khowaiter, the director of new business evaluation for the state petroleum company told reporters on Tuesday in Manama, Bahrain. "The proposed target is between 7 [and] 10 per cent of peak electricity generated by renewables by 2020, most likely solar. That represents roughly 5 gigawatts (gw) by 2020," he said. "Can we achieve that? It's feasible." Under a business as usual scenario, the kingdom could supply as much as 6 million barrels per day of oil to its domestic market by 2030 - about the same volume as it currently exports - Mr al Khowaiter added. That would imply a roughly three-fold increase in Saudi domestic oil consumption, in line with another Saudi official's projection that the kingdom's requirements for installed power capacity would nearly triple to 121gw by 2032 from 46gw. The result would be a large reduction in potential Saudi oil exports, which are likely to be the kingdom's chief source of foreign currency for decades to come. That opportunity cost would increase the economic attractiveness of solar development. "It is expensive at this point, but, as we see, prices are coming down. We know we have a very strong probability of having both the potential and the price correct by 2020-2030," Mr Khowaiter said. "It is a very strategic move into solar." "We believe large-scale power generation from solar can be achieved near the end of this decade, near 2020. Beyond 2020, the economics will be clearly in favour of deployment of solar power," he addd. Recently Saudi oil production has averaged about 8 million barrels per day, of which roughly a quarter was consumed within the country, according to the latest figures available from the Joint Oil Data Initiative. Government estimates put the kingdom's oil production capacity, or the amount of crude it could pump if it disregarded its OPEC quota, at more than 12 million barrels per day. Abdullah al Shehri, the governor of the (ECRA), said the Saudi government expected to approve a regulatory framework by next year for investment in renewable energy. Without that, the kingdom's renewable sector would not expand. "We developed the policy and we were ready as regulators to submit [it] to our board for approval and then take it to the council of ministers," he said. "If they [the government] don't provide the funds, nothing will move forward." Last month, the kingdom to set up a centre for scientific research into renewable and nuclear power development. The King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy would be in charge of securing technology transfer deals, while ECRA would issue licenses. The kingdom was also seeking to use its generating capacity more efficiently and to reduce energy wastage, following debilitating power cuts in Jeddah last year, Mr al Shehri said. Saudi electrcity tariffs would rise by 25 per cent this year and would vary between peak and off-peak hours, he added. Christophe Mariot, the regional heat of structure finances for , told Bloomberg in Manama that , the Abu Dhabi government's clean energy company, was expected to complete financing for its Shams 1 solar project within the next two months. Masdar would form a partnership with France's and Spanish companies to develop the project and would sign an agreement with Total "in coming days", he said. The first phase of the concentrating solar power project would provide 100 megawatts (mw) of generating capacity. Mr Mariot estimated the cost of the initial development phase at between US$500 million (Dh1.84 billion) and $700m. Jordan's energy minister Khalid Irani said a Jordanian-Italian partnership was expected to present a $400m offer to build a photovoltaic solar plant in southern Jordan that could be in service by the end of 2012 . The group proposing to undertake construction of the 100mw generating plant included Jordan's and the Italian company , the minister said. Jordan, which imports 96 per cent of its energy, plans to develop renewable power projects to supply up to 10 per cent of the kingdom's electricity demand. The government is also preparing to award a contract for a nuclear plant. An executive of , the French energy group, said today that Morocco was close to making a decision on awarding a contract to develop a 250mw wind farm. A wind project of that size would typically cost as much as $600m, Suresh Bhaskas, GDF's head of strategy for the Middle East and North Africa, told Bloomberg.