The Public Investment Fund (PIF) Private Sector Forum in Riyadh witnessed the signing of a joint venture agreement between Industrialization and Energy Services Company (TAQA) and Reykjavik Geothermal (RG). The new company, named TAQA Geothermal Energy LLC, will be headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and will be dedicated to exploring and developing geothermal resources in Saudi Arabia and the MENA region. This initiative is in line with Saudi Arabia’s and the Middle East’s decarbonization goals and will contribute to the region’s green initiatives.
A partnership to reduce carbon emissions
The joint venture agreement between TAQA and RG is fully consistent with Saudi Arabia’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality, in line with the kingdom’s 2030 vision. Commenting on the announcement, Khalid Nouh, CEO of TAQA Group, said, “We began our transition to a sustainable future in early 2021, when we established the TAQA Geothermal Center of Excellence (TG-CoE) in Turkey, with the aim of sharing knowledge and experience in geothermal development with other stakeholders in the kingdom.”
A promising partnership
TAQA and RG have worked together to explore geothermal resources in Saudi Arabia. The results were promising, and the two partners decided to create a joint venture to explore and develop the equivalent of 1 GW of geothermal energy from the kingdom’s resources. Godmundur Thoroddsson, RG’s chairman of the board, said, “The RG team has long believed in the kingdom’s geothermal potential; we began exploring local resources in 2009. This clean, stable and inexpensive energy source has enormous potential. Beyond high-enthalpy power generation, our new joint venture aims to develop large-scale cooling and desalination projects from the kingdom’s abundant medium and low enthalpy resources.”
