Saudi Arabia Shelves Huge Solar Project with Softbank: WSJ

October 1, 2018

New York- Saudi Arabia has shelved a 200-billion-dollar project to build solar power plants with Softbank Group Corp., The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

In March, Softbank Chairman Masayoshi Son said his group concluded a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia on the project, touting it as the world's biggest solar power project.

The project envisions the establishment of solar power plants capable of generating up to 200 gigawatts of electricity by 2030 by using money from the Softbank Vision Fund, in which Saudi Arabia invests.

Now, officials and an adviser at the Saudi government said that "no one is actively working on the project," the U.S. business daily said in its electronic edition.

The country is "working up a broader, more practical strategy to boost renewable energy, to be announced in late October," according to the newspaper. Jiji Press