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Saudi Arabia Speeds Up Pace to Activate Small-Scale Solar PV Systems

Saudi Arabia begins using small-scale solar PV systems to generate electricity. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia begins using small-scale solar PV systems to generate electricity. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Speeds Up Pace to Activate Small-Scale Solar PV Systems

Saudi Arabia begins using small-scale solar PV systems to generate electricity. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia begins using small-scale solar PV systems to generate electricity. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia has been speeding up the pace to activate the recently approved small-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) systems.

It has provided the necessary legislation to achieve all options and bolster opportunities for building local content for the components needed for the local solar energy production.

King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) announced Thursday launching training programs over installation process of small-scale solar PV systems in the kingdom.

Four training centers have been authorized to offer the five-day training program, it said.

The accredited institutes are in Yanbu, Dammam, Riyadh, and Juaima’h and Baish.

Individuals wishing to obtain certificates to work in the field of designing or installing small-scale solar PV systems must attend an at least five-day training program at one of the centers.

Afterwards, they apply for the final test at the distribution service provider to obtain the qualification certificate in case they pass the training period.

The training certification program aims to ensure that the solar PV systems that are connected to the kingdom’s grid are designed and equipped by trained professionals with required competencies.

This serves several purposes and helps ensure the achievement of high levels of safety and security, adherence to the required technical standards, high quality of design and installation for clients and protection of the distribution system.

Earlier this week, the Saudi Ministry of Energy announced that the small-scale solar PV systems are ready to generate electricity for houses and enterprises, to be later connected to the kingdom’s grid.

It also announced providing consumers with an easy-to-use e-calculator that helps in analyzing the financial and technical aspects of the estimated installation cost, as well as various other support services.

The project participants are the Ministry of Energy, the Electricity Cogeneration Regulatory Authority (ECRA), Ministry of Municipality and Rural Affairs (MoMRA), Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Commerce and Investment (MOCI), KACARE and Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO).

Meanwhile, ECRA announced the launch of the “Shamsi” portal for the PV system.

The new portal informs consumers of the economic feasibility and estimated costs of installing a solar energy system in a home or business before connecting it to the public electrical network, ECRA said in a statement.

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Business

Trump Hits Back at Canada after Retaliatory Tariffs Announcement

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on August 22, 2026 shows US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on July 13, 2026 and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on August 22, 2026. (Photo by SAUL LOEB and Dave Chan / AFP)
(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on August 22, 2026 shows US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on July 13, 2026 and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on August 22, 2026. (Photo by SAUL LOEB and Dave Chan / AFP)
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Trump Hits Back at Canada after Retaliatory Tariffs Announcement

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on August 22, 2026 shows US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on July 13, 2026 and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on August 22, 2026. (Photo by SAUL LOEB and Dave Chan / AFP)
(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on August 22, 2026 shows US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on July 13, 2026 and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on August 22, 2026. (Photo by SAUL LOEB and Dave Chan / AFP)

US President Donald Trump hit back at Canada on Sunday after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced retaliatory tariffs on the United States following a breakdown in trade negotiations.

"Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

"They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of Tariffs. No more!!!" he said.

Carney said Saturday that new Canadian tariffs would take effect on September 8, notably targeting the US steel and dairy industries.

New 50-percent US tariffs impacting about $20 billion worth of goods, or 5.5 percent of Canadian exports to the US, came into force Saturday.

Trump had previously said Washington "should be able to have a deal with Canada," citing his "good relationship" with Carney.

But on Saturday, Canada's prime minister said Trump set conditions that were ultimately unacceptable even though earlier talks had been positive.

"In recent days, the United States proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair and undermined the net benefits for Canada, and called into question the reliability of any deal," Carney said in Ottawa.

"We cannot accept what they've offered, and we will not give what they've asked."

Business

Alibaba Proposes Hong Kong Share Placement Worth $10 Billion

FILE PHOTO: People visit an Alibaba booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People visit an Alibaba booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo/File Photo
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Alibaba Proposes Hong Kong Share Placement Worth $10 Billion

FILE PHOTO: People visit an Alibaba booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People visit an Alibaba booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo/File Photo

China's Alibaba announced on Sunday a proposed placement of new shares in Hong Kong.

The aggregate placement consideration is HK$80 billion ($10.2 billion), the company added, according to Reuters.

Alibaba said the ⁠deal would mark ⁠the largest-ever primary follow-on offering by a Hong Kong-listed company and the biggest Regulation S ⁠equity offering on record, while ranking as the world's third-largest primary follow-on share sale this year after Alphabet and Intel.

The company said it intends to use 100% of the net ⁠proceeds from ⁠the placement to invest in its full stack AI capabilities, including expanding and enhancing its AI infrastructure.

Business

South Korea Sends 1st Container Ship Through Arctic Route

The container ship 'Panstar Acoro,' bound for Europe via the Arctic, docks at Busan port in South Korea on August 22, 2026 (Yonhap News Agency via Reuters)
The container ship 'Panstar Acoro,' bound for Europe via the Arctic, docks at Busan port in South Korea on August 22, 2026 (Yonhap News Agency via Reuters)
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South Korea Sends 1st Container Ship Through Arctic Route

The container ship 'Panstar Acoro,' bound for Europe via the Arctic, docks at Busan port in South Korea on August 22, 2026 (Yonhap News Agency via Reuters)
The container ship 'Panstar Acoro,' bound for Europe via the Arctic, docks at Busan port in South Korea on August 22, 2026 (Yonhap News Agency via Reuters)

South Korea sent its first trial container ship through the Arctic on Saturday, as the Middle East war rattles global shipping, while environmental groups warned the route could accelerate polar ice melt.

The Middle East conflict, sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, has roiled global shipping, sending governments and shipping firms scrambling to seek alternative routes.

Sailing from Busan New Port, the "PanStar Acro" container ship is to sail to Europe via the Arctic, testing whether a route opened by melting sea ice can be commercially viable.

"We would like to inform you that the vessel for the Arctic route trial voyage departed" at 9:30 pm (1230 GMT), Seoul's oceans ministry said in a statement sent to AFP.

The ship is headed for Felixstowe in Britain, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Gdansk in Poland before returning, with the voyage expected to take about 45 days, according to the ministry.

The voyage follows that of the Chinese container ship "Dubai Tower", which left the eastern port city of Ningbo for Europe this month, heading north through the Bering Strait before turning west along Russia's Arctic coast.

The usual maritime route between Asia and Europe runs through the Suez Canal, but travelling through the Arctic can cut the journey by around 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles) and about 10 days, according to the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.

South Korea's Vice Oceans Minister Nam Jae-hon said the Arctic route was "bound to become an alternative" to Middle Eastern shipping lanes -- as geopolitical risks and technological advances make it increasingly competitive.

Marc Lanteigne, a political science professor at the Arctic University of Norway, said the voyage -- coming soon after China's "Dubai Tower" began its own Arctic journey -- showed the Northern Sea Route (NSR) was becoming normalized as a "secondary maritime transit corridor".

A successful voyage would demonstrate South Korea's interest in "developing alternative shipping sea lanes", he told AFP, with concerns that it could fall behind as Chinese firms expand regular services through the increasingly viable Arctic route.

Some experts warn South Korean ships using the Arctic route could risk breaching Western sanctions on Russia -- currently a key security ally of North Korea -- as they would receive Russian navigation and weather services involving payments, albeit small ones.

South Korea's foreign ministry declined to comment when asked by AFP about the concerns involving Russia.

The oceans ministry said this week that "consultations with key relevant countries and agencies" have been completed to "implement administrative procedures necessary" for the voyage.

Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, said "strictly speaking, US and EU sanctions are not international law, unlike UN sanctions".

"And with continued uncertainty in the Middle East... South Korea may have few alternatives if the Arctic route proves economically viable," he told AFP.

Lanteigne said China's Northern Sea Route ambitions were more politically driven than South Korea's, with Beijing viewing the polar regions as "strategic new frontiers", raising Western security concerns.

Meanwhile, environmental groups warned growing traffic along the shorter NSR could accelerate Arctic sea ice loss already driven by global warming.

Major carriers including CMA CGM, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have pledged to avoid Arctic shipping routes.

The NSR is believed to be accessible only during the time of year when the ice is melted enough to allow transits without icebreakers.

"The Northern Sea Route has become increasingly viable as the Arctic warms about four times faster than the global average, leading to a sharp decline in sea ice," South Korean environmental group Paran Ocean Citizen Science Center said in a statement last year.

"But making the route commercially viable would require further warming, putting the policy at odds with efforts to combat climate change."