RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is upgrading 50 percent of its power network as electricity needs climb across the economy, from industry to AI, the CEO of Saudi Power Procurement Co. said.
Speaking at the 25th WPC Energy Congress in Riyadh on Tuesday, Mazin Al-Bahkali said reforms under Vision 2030 had rebuilt the Kingdom’s power sector to be dependable, efficient and low-cost, so it could serve industry and attract strategic sectors.
He made the comments during a session titled “Energy and AI as Co-Enablers,” which looked at how the two sectors increasingly depend on each other.
Al-Bahkali said: “About 50 percent of the grid is being scaled up today to cater for the growing demand, including but not limited to AI and data.”
He added that data centers depend on a steady electricity supply at a competitive price.
The CEO of the company, also known as Principal Buyer, said that Saudi Arabia has been “blessed to be the energy provider of the world,” adding that the government is drawing up an energy mix designed to keep electricity both dependable and reasonably priced.
“Principal Buyer is being tasked to execute on that plan to be able to deliver that power by 2030,” he said.
He said the company works with partners across the sector to project future consumption, including from AI, and brings in Saudi and foreign investors to build new generation capacity.
'Two sides of a coin'
Also at the session, Margarete Schramboeck, board member at Aramco Digital, described AI and energy as interdependent, saying: “It’s two sides of one coin, and we cannot do one without the other.”
She said AI is opening up new ways to improve performance in energy that were previously unimagined, and that the same holds across industry, for small businesses and for individuals.
“Saudi Arabia has all the prerequisites that are needed to be a leading player in this,” Schramboeck said, later adding: “There’s nobody out there that has this knowledge,
She said the government’s role is to lay down the rules, steer companies, and give momentum through funding and project backing.
The Aramco Digital board member described Saudi Arabia as “in the top league,” pointing to its infrastructure investment.
Energy infrastructure alone is not enough without data centers, digital capability and skills, adding that “the people of a country are the biggest resource, the biggest basis for a good future, both in energy and AI.”
Emerging AI tech spending up 20%
Building on Schramboeck’s points, Anas Al-Rimi, deputy governor for the technology and solutions sector at the Digital Government Authority, said the relationship between the state and private sector must move beyond traditional supplier arrangements toward a value-driven, outcome-oriented partnership.
He said the government’s job is to stick to its mandate, setting goals, spelling out the problems it wants solved and putting governance in place, while businesses supply the innovation and know-how to deliver solutions.
Al-Rimi pointed to the authority’s yearly Government Spending Report on Information and Communications Technology Services, which shows companies where public money is going and where business opportunities lie.
“The report shows that government ICT spending reached almost SR32 billion ($8.52 billion),” he said, adding that spending on emerging AI technologies increased by 20 percent.
Al-Rimi said that the outlay had also delivered more than SR9.5 billion in benefit to the wider economy, beyond the tech sector itself.
He said framework agreements between the authority and Government Expenditure and Projects Efficiency Authority are opening doors for businesses and smoothing their dealings with government.
Seven such agreements are now active, covering more than SR60 billion in spending across over 100 service providers.
“We are planning to reach 2,400 AI services by end of this year,” Al-Rimi said.