Beyer discusses Saudi's nuclear ambitions on Asharq Bloomberg

⚛️ Saudi Arabia is gearing up to build nuclear power. ⚛️ 

Why would such an energy-rich country want nuclear? Following the Ministry of Energy | وزارة الطاقة Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz's speech at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), I joined Asharq Business اقتصاد الشرق to talk about some of the reasons: 

🏭 Decarbonization - Saudi has a net zero by 2060 goal and needs a lot more firm, zero-carbon power as electricity demand rises.

⚡ Baseload and grid stability - Gas and oil currently provide baseload power and grid services. Renewables will ultimately make up a larger share of generation, and nuclear can be a good companion, offering similar grid characteristics to fossil fuels without the CO2. 

🛢️ Liquid fuels displacement - Saudi wants to use liquid fuels for higher-value products like petrochemicals, fertilizers and fuel exports, rather than burning oil and gas for power.

🌎 Strategic and economic - Nuclear capability signals advanced technology, infrastructure, and global standing, whilst diversifying the energy mix. Building nuclear will strengthen Saudi Arabia's regional leadership role, while also supporting the goals of Vision 2030. 

💰 Cost - At ¢8-11/kWh, nuclear is expensive compared to ¢1.2-3.5/kWh for solar and wind or ~¢5/kWh for gas. But nuclear doesn't need storage, runs 90%+ of the time, provides grid services like inertia, is energy dense with a small generation footprint, and is low carbon. So some argue the cost is worth it.