Saudi TRSDC becomes world's largest tourism site with renewable energy after deal with ACWA-led consortium

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Updated 08 November 2021
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Saudi TRSDC becomes world's largest tourism site with renewable energy after deal with ACWA-led consortium

  • Project will create a saving of at least half a million tons of CO2 each year . That’s the equivalent to emissions from around 99,000 cars or 78,000 homes.
  • The power generation assets will also include the world’s largest battery storage facility of 1000 MWh, allowing the destination to remain powered by renewables day and night

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's sustainable tourism development company, TRSDC, announced today it has finalized the deal for a 25-year renewable energy project with a consortium led by ACWA Power as the consortium closed financing for the project.

"This confirms the development as the largest tourism project in the world set to be powered solely by renewable energy," The Red Sea Development Co. said in a statement.

The consortium made of local and international investors secured financing to design, build and operate the project's infrastructure for 25 years, before handing its operations back to TRSDC, it said.

Financing comes from a mix of Saudi and international banks, including the UK’s Standard Chartered Bank and China’s Silk Road Fund.

"Initial assets will be delivered by December 2022 with the balance coming online throughout 2023, delivering a total generating capacity circa 407 MWp of Solar PV power for Phase 1. By completion, the destination will have the infrastructure in place to generate up to up to 760,000 MWh of renewable energy per year," it said.

According to TRSDC, the power generation assets will also include the world’s largest battery storage facility of 1000 MWh, allowing the destination to remain powered by renewables day and night.

This will create a saving of at least half a million tons of CO2 each year . That’s the equivalent to emissions from around 99,000 cars or 78,000 homes.


Saudi reserve engages pilgrims on biodiversity

Updated 9 min 51 sec ago
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Saudi reserve engages pilgrims on biodiversity

  • Pilgrims were welcomed at Al-Shuqaiq in the Jouf region, where more than 4,000 gifts reflecting the reserve’s history and conservation efforts were distributed

RIYADH: Hajj pilgrims arriving in the Kingdom by land were introduced to projects and initiatives of the King Salman bin Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Development Authority.

The initiative aims to enhance biodiversity, restore vegetation and breed endangered species to create a more sustainable natural environment.

The authority also distributed educational brochures to raise awareness about environmental preservation, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Pilgrims were welcomed at Al-Shuqaiq in the Jouf region, where more than 4,000 gifts reflecting the reserve’s history and conservation efforts were distributed.

Visitors were informed about the reserve’s environmental heritage, biodiversity, and commitment to sustainable ecological stewardship, the SPA added.

The authority works to preserve biodiversity by protecting habitats and creating safe environments for wildlife and plants to thrive.

Its achievements include planting more than 2.4 million trees, scattering four tonnes of native seeds and rehabilitating 250,000 hectares of degraded land.

The reserve hosts more than 290 documented bird species — about 58 percent of those recorded in the Kingdom — and includes five internationally recognized important bird areas.

Covering 130,700 sq. kilometers, the King Salman Reserve is the largest natural terrestrial reserve in the Middle East, spanning four administrative regions: Jouf, Hail, Northern Borders, and Tabuk.


Father in intensive care after nine children killed in Israeli strike on Gaza

Hamdi Al-Najjar lies in a hospital bed in the Intensive Care Unit at Nasser Hospital after being injured in the same strike.
Updated 11 min 25 sec ago
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Father in intensive care after nine children killed in Israeli strike on Gaza

  • Hamdi Al-Najjar, himself a doctor, was at home in Khan Younis with his 10 children when an Israeli air strike occurred, killing all but one of them

GAZA/CAIRO: The father of nine children killed in an Israeli military strike in Gaza over the weekend remains in intensive care, said a doctor on Sunday at the hospital treating him.
Hamdi Al-Najjar, himself a doctor, was at home in Khan Younis with his 10 children when an Israeli air strike occurred, killing all but one of them. He was rushed to the nearby Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza where he is being treated for his injuries.
Abdul Aziz Al-Farra, a thoracic surgeon, said Najjar had undergone two operations to stop bleeding in his abdomen and chest and that he sustained other wounds including to his head.
“May God heal him and help him,” Farra said, speaking by the bedside of an intubated and heavily bandaged Najjar.
The Israeli military has confirmed it conducted an air strike on Khan Younis on Friday but said it was targeting suspects in a structure that was close to Israeli soldiers.
The military is looking into claims that “uninvolved civilians” were killed, it said, adding that the military had evacuated civilians from the area before the operation began.
According to medical officials in Gaza, the nine children were aged between one and 12 years old. The child that survived, a boy, is in a serious but stable condition, the hospital has said.
Najjar’s wife, Alaa, also a doctor, was not at home at the time of the strike. She was treating Palestinians injured in Israel’s more than 20-month war in Gaza against Hamas in the same hospital where her husband and son are receiving care.
“She went to her house and saw her children burned, may God help her,” said Tahani Yahya Al-Najjar of her sister-in-law.
“With everything we are going through only God gives us strength.”
Tahani visited her brother in hospital on Sunday, whispering to him that she was there: “You are okay, this will pass.”
On Saturday, Ali Al-Najjar said that he rushed to his brother’s house after the strike, which had sparked a fire that threatened to collapse the home, and searched through the rubble. “We started pulling out charred bodies,” he said.
In its statement about the air strike, the Israeli military said Khan Younis was a “dangerous war zone.”
Practically all of Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians have been displaced after more than 20 months of war.
The war erupted when Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 more.
The retaliatory campaign, that Israel has said is aimed at uprooting Hamas and securing the release of the hostages, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, Gazan health officials say.
Most of them are civilians, including more than 16,500 children under the age of 18, according to Gaza’s health ministry.


Lando Norris wins in Monaco to slash Oscar Piastri’s F1 lead

Updated 12 min 7 sec ago
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Lando Norris wins in Monaco to slash Oscar Piastri’s F1 lead

  • Win is Briton’s first since Melbourne, who cuts Australian’s lead to three points
  • Mandatory second pitstop fails to change order

MONACO: Lando Norris celebrated his first Monaco Grand Prix win from pole position on Sunday and slashed McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri’s Formula One lead to three points in a race more about strategy than speed.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished runner-up in the home race he won last year, with Piastri third and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fourth — all four finishing in the order they started.
The afternoon featured two mandatory pitstops for the first time but hopes of more action around the harborside circuit fell short.
Drivers through the field played a waiting game, with Verstappen holding off his final stop until the penultimate lap and those behind biding their time while keeping out of trouble. Norris ultimately lapped all but four cars.
The win was the Briton’s second in eight races and first since the Australian season-opener in March, as well as McLaren’s first at Monaco since 2008.
“Monaco baby!,” he shouted over the radio as the chequered flag finally fell.
“The last quarter was stressful with Leclerc behind and Max ahead but we won in Monaco,” said Norris.
“This is what I dreamed of when I was a kid, so I achieved one of my dreams.”
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was fifth with Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar sixth and Haas’s Esteban Ocon seventh.
Liam Lawson scored his first points of the season for Racing Bulls in eighth place and Williams completed the top 10 with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.
Mercedes had a dismal afternoon in the Mediterranean sunshine, after a nightmare in qualifying, with George Russell 11th and Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli 18th and the last car still running.
The virtual safety car was deployed on the opening lap when Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto went into the tire wall at Portier, the turn before the tunnel, as Antonelli passed on the inside.
Bortoleto made it back to the pits and continued.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the first retirement, the Frenchman crashing into the back of Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull at the tunnel exit on lap nine and limping back to the pits with the front left wheel hanging off.
“Is he an idiot, what is he doing?” exclaimed Tsunoda.
Gasly, who said he had no brakes, almost took out Argentine rookie team mate Franco Colapinto as he careered through the Nouvelle Chicane.
Aston Martin’s double world champion Fernando Alonso was the second retirement, pulling off on lap 38 with a smoking car to continue his scoreless run for the season.


Saleh Al-Shehri returns for Al-Ittihad ahead of SPL trophy celebrations and King’s Cup final

Updated 40 min 53 sec ago
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Saleh Al-Shehri returns for Al-Ittihad ahead of SPL trophy celebrations and King’s Cup final

  • The Saudi international had been sidelined since April 17 with a hamstring injury

JEDDAH: Al-Ittihad striker Saleh Al-Shehri has returned to full training ahead of the club’s Saudi Pro League title celebrations and their final league fixture against Damac on Monday.

The Saudi international had been sidelined since April 17 with a hamstring injury sustained during a match against Al-Fateh in round 28.

He missed five games during his recovery but trained with the squad on Saturday under the watchful eye of head coach Laurent Blanc.

His return comes as a timely boost for the Jeddah club, which will also welcome back several key players ahead of a crucial fortnight.

French striker Karim Benzema and Algerian midfielder Houssem Aouar are both back from injury, while Brazilian enforcer Fabinho Tavares is available once again after serving a one-match suspension for yellow card accumulation.

Al-Ittihad resumed training on Saturday following a short two-day break, with preparations now focused on Monday’s season finale and the King’s Cup final against Al-Qadsiah on May 30.

With the league title already secured, Blanc’s side will be hoping to finish their campaign on a high before lifting the Roshn League trophy in front of their home fans at the King Abdullah Sports City.


Live show at Expo 2025 celebrates shared Saudi-Japanese maritime experience

Updated 52 min 40 sec ago
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Live show at Expo 2025 celebrates shared Saudi-Japanese maritime experience

  • Deep-rooted cultural connection in the spotlight 

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has used the stage at Expo 2025 in Osaka to tell a story of Saudi-Japanese relations which spans the oceans.

In a live performance titled “Tales of the Sea,” the Kingdom’s pavilion brought together the seafaring traditions of Saudi Arabia and Japan, spotlighting a deep-rooted cultural connection anchored in pearl diving, patience, and poetry.

Held at the Saudi Courtyard Theater, the show centered on the figure of the nahham, a traditional Gulf singer whose role was to inspire pearl divers with his voice during long months at sea.

Japan’s ama divers, skilled women known for their sea diving expertise, were also featured to showcase their abilities and the risks they took in search of sea treasures. 

The performance told the story of a Saudi diver on a six-month journey to find the largest pearl, combining performance with visual storytelling projected across five towering 13-meter walls.

Interactive exhibits showcasing traditional diving tools and cultural artifacts invited visitors to engage more deeply, sparking conversations about resilience, tradition, and the Kingdom and Japan’s shared maritime legacies.

The audience responded with enthusiasm, drawn by the show’s emotional depth and the unexpected parallels between the two cultures.

The show captured the maritime memories of both nations, which were enhanced by Gulf chants blended with traditional Japanese music to help create an experience that reflected the partnership.

The Kingdom’s pavilion — the second largest at the expo after Japan’s — will host more than 700 events during the six-month fair, including concerts, films, and storytelling performances.

“Tales of the Sea” stood out as a clear example of how cultural exchange can be both meaningful and memorable.