--- title: Bill Richardson: What Saudi Arabian Bet on Solar Power Means description: After President Barack Obama’s recent meeting with King Salman, the Saudi Arabian shift to solar power is a sign to renew the partnership canonical: https://time.com/4314182/saudi-arabia-solar-power/ author: Bill Richardson article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-03T13:57:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:31.068Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Bill Richardson: What Saudi Arabia's Bet on Solar Power Means og:description: It's a sign the oil-rich nation is serious about change og:url: https://time.com/4314182/saudi-arabia-solar-power/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97cdfbf8b62283be/6988916d196cf4593903b6d6/bill-richardson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Bill Richardson, former Governor of New Mexico, in an interview on Jan.13, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bill Richardson: What Saudi Arabia's Bet on Solar Power Means twitter:description: It's a sign the oil-rich nation is serious about change twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97cdfbf8b62283be/6988916d196cf4593903b6d6/bill-richardson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bill Richardson: What Saudi Arabia's Bet on Solar Power Means > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: The Ultras: Solar Impulse [Watch (HLS stream): The Ultras: Solar Impulse](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/k38DLMvp.m3u8) (3:16)  _Published 2015-08-20. Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg are on a mission to make history. Out to prove a point about the power of clean technologies and renewable energy sources, they are piloting the Solar Impulse 2 plane around the world using absolutely no fuel._ by [Bill Richardson](https://time.com/author/gov-bill-richardson/) ## Bill Richardson May 3, 2016 1:57 PM UTC  Bill Richardson, former Governor of New Mexico, in an interview on Jan.13, 2015. Bill Richardson, former Governor of New Mexico, in an interview on Jan.13, 2015. CNBC—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images by [Bill Richardson](https://time.com/author/gov-bill-richardson/) ## Bill Richardson May 3, 2016 1:57 PM UTC President Barack Obama’s [recent meeting](http://time.com/4299949/saudi-arabia-barack-obama-visit/) with Saudi King Salman, coming during tense times between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, reminded me what a difference two decades can make. As Secretary of Energy during President Bill Clinton’s second term, I was a frequent flier to Saudi Arabia, urging the world’s leading oil producer to stabilize prices. The Kingdom was reasonable, reflecting a partnership that was widely accepted in both countries and extended from energy security to regional security. Back then, like most Americans, I thought Saudi Arabia was synonymous with oil. When I later served as Governor of New Mexico and championed renewable energy, I said I wanted our state to become “the Saudi Arabia of solar power.” Now, after the agreement with Iran, the Saudi-American partnership is more problematic. But Americans should be aware that the Kingdom is initiating far-reaching reforms that could make it “the Saudi Arabia of solar power” —and an even more valuable American ally. Coming from New Mexico—the second-sunniest state in the nation, with deserts conducive to solar panels, and growing concerns about climate change, dwindling water resources and pinched public finances—I understand why Saudi Arabia is moving towards a solar future as part of a program of economic reforms. As a leading economist Herbert Stein once said: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” Because they know they need to change from their unsustainable oil-dependent, government-led economic model to a more diversified and market-based future, Saudi leaders are making [changes](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/world/middleeast/saudi-aramco-mohammed-bin-salman-public-fund.html) that would once have been unthinkable, such as privatizing parts of its iconic oil company, Aramco; reducing energy subsidies for affluent Saudis; selling state assets in other sectors of the economy, from telecommunications to air travel and power stations; encouraging new and expanding industries, from petrochemicals to tourism; and promoting domestic entrepreneurship and foreign investment, along with greater participation in the workforce by Saudi women. In a bold break from the past, this sun-drenched as well as oil-rich nation is making a big bet on a solar future. This means turning away from wasteful policies and practices, such as producing almost half its electrical power by burning oil and subsidizing energy prices so heavily that Saudis have been buying gasoline for 50 cents a gallon and electricity for about a penny per kilowatt-hour. These policies and cheap energy prices had costly consequences: buildings constructed without insulation, highways clogged with gas-guzzling cars and SUVs, and families running their air conditioners even when they’re on vacation. With air conditioning consuming some [70% of its electricity](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/07/saudis-solar-energy/395315/) in 2013, and the Kingdom burning a quarter of the petroleum it produces, costly subsidies and excessive consumption threaten the future of Saudi Arabia’s oil exporting sector as well as the solvency of its government. These are some of the reasons why Saudi Arabia has set the ambitious [goal](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/07/saudis-solar-energy/395315/) of developing 41 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2032 (that’s 20 times what’s produced by Hoover Dam)—a move that would make it one of the five leading solar producers on the planet. Among other projects, the Kingdom is building its first solar panel factory and another factory producing polysilicon, a material used for manufacturing solar cells, as well as installing rooftop solar facilities in Riyadh. For me—and, I hope, for American policymakers and investors—Saudi Arabia’s shift toward solar energy is an indication of its seriousness about undertaking other transformational changes and its continuing importance as a strategic and economic partner. As the economic consultants, McKinsey Global Institute, recently [reported](http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/employment-and-growth/moving-saudi-arabias-economy-beyond-oil), if Saudi Arabia pursues market-oriented, productivity-focused, post-petroleum reforms, it can double its Gross Domestic Product by 2030, create six million new jobs and raise household incomes by 60%. Saudi Arabia’s willingness to move beyond oil is a clear sign that the Kingdom has the courage and commitment to embrace new economic and geopolitical realities. After all, some [70% of its population is under 30](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/world/middleeast/young-saudis-see-cushy-jobs-vanish-along-with-nations-oil-wealth.html). Millions of Saudis use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media. Saudi women make up 20% of the Saudi Assembly, own more than 70,000 businesses in Riyadh alone, and are serving in local governments and managing political campaigns. I will be forever grateful to the venerable Saudi statesmen including the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ali bin Ibrahim Al Naimi, with whom I worked almost two decades ago. But now, a new generation of Americans should reach out to the new generation of Saudis to renew the partnership that has done so much to promote security and stability in our dangerous world. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Exploration is not only to raise a flag and to succeed. Exploration is to go through all the process, all the difficulties, all the crisis and the setbacks before you can succeed. I am Bertrand Piccard, administrator of the Solar Impulse project and one of the two pilots with [ INAUDIBLE ]. Solar Impulse Is a flight around the world with an aircraft which is powered Only by solar energy. We have solar cells ont he top of the plane that transforms the sunlight into electricity that feed four electrical motors. Charge the batteries during the day so we can fly at night, reach the next sunrise and continue with an unlimited endurance. We can stay forever in the air, theoretically. [ MUSIC ] With absolutely no fuel. This airplane, it's built to carry a message about the use of clean technologies for a better world. When I flew around the world non- stop in a balloon in 1999, I burned almost four tons of liquid propane to stay airborne. And after that flight, I thought I should do the same again but with no fuel at all. So we started the flight around the world in March of 2015 and the goal was to do it with stops in the major countries. The most incredible moment Was when the plane flew for more than 24 hours. I could see that the crazy idea I had in beginning, 16 years ago, became a reality. We completed almost half of it, but we had to interrupt the flight. The flight from Japan to Hawaii, which lasted five days, five nights, I overstressed these batteries and we decided to change them completely to avoid taking any risks. That's the reasons why we would stay in Hawaii this winter, continue next year around the month of April with the goal to finish and be there [ INAUDIBLE ] In the mid of summer 2016. It's not a race against time. It's an attempt of making a history first. So the time it takes finally is not so important. What we need. Is to get back to the place where it started. Very often, when you face a difficulty and obstacles, it brings a better solution, it brings an opportunity. And I'm convinced that's the same here. Next year we will see the benefit of stopping in our, very often I remind my team that if it was easy, Somebody else would already have done it. And all the people in the team are actually people who have learned to cope with disappointment, frustration, doubt, questions marks. And this is exploration, this is adventure. 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