Japanese telecommunications to technology giant SoftBank and Saudi Arabia have announced a new partnership to create a solar power generation company in Saudi Arabia.
SoftBank said that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia for the project. The project will help wean Saudi Arabia off its dependence on oil for electricity, create as many as 100,000 jobs and shave $40 billion off power costs.
SoftBank expects the solar project to have the capacity to produce up to 200 gigawatts by 2030 and the deal is expected to cost $200 billion.
The first two solar parks will be able to generate 7.2 gigawatts of power and are scheduled to begin construction this year and start generating electricity in 2019.