Story charts
The build-out, in five charts
Each chart reads the same public data as the atlas and the trackers, says where every figure comes from, and downloads as an image or as its data.
The GCC build-out race
Installed solar and wind by country, year by year, then each country's tracked pipeline to 2030 on top, hatched.
- Solar, installed (IRENA)
- Wind, installed (IRENA)
- Tracked pipeline, expected by the year shown
Pipeline counts tracked projects expected to operate after IRENA's latest year, by their stated or expected year; it is not a forecast. IRENA data to 2025; later years add the tracked pipeline.
Source: International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENASTAT); Renewable Vision, the Saudi and GCC renewables trackers. Licence: IRENA, free for non-commercial use with attribution; CC BY-NC 4.0 (Saudi tracker); Compiled from public sources (GCC and captive). As of 2026-09-24; 2026-09-24.
Sun against tariff
Every published solar tariff against the long-run sunlight at the project's locality. Sunlight varies little across the region; the price fell with each tender round.
- Colour by tender or award year
- ≤2017
- 2018–19
- 2020–21
- 2022–23
- 2024+
- Year not stated
Tariffs as the procurer or developer published them (the Saudi tracker's tendered levelised cost). Dirham tariffs converted at the fixed peg of 3.6725 AED per US dollar. Solar PV and CSP only.
Source: Renewable Vision, the Saudi and GCC renewables trackers; NASA Langley Research Center, POWER Project (NASA POWER). Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0 (Saudi tracker); Compiled from public sources (GCC and captive); NASA POWER public domain. As of 2026-09-24; 2026-09-24.
Who builds what
Developers to countries or technologies to stages, in megawatts. Hover a band to follow it.
Swipe sideways to follow the flows.
Each project's capacity is split by the equity shares its developers publish, and equally where none is published. The eleven largest developers are named; the rest are grouped.
Source: Renewable Vision, the Saudi and GCC renewables trackers. Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0 (Saudi tracker); Compiled from public sources (GCC and captive). As of 2026-09-24.
From tender to operation
Each line runs from a project's tender to its award and to its commercial operation, filled where operation happened and hollow where it is expected.
- Tender
- Award
- Operation
- Expected operation
Years as the tracker or the source states them. A project with no stated tender year starts at its award or operation.
Source: Renewable Vision, the Saudi and GCC renewables trackers. Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0 (Saudi tracker); Compiled from public sources (GCC and captive). As of 2026-09-24.
The sun through the year
Monthly irradiance at the town with the most tracked capacity in each of four countries, from NASA's twenty-year climatology.
- Al Hinakiyah
- Dukhan
- Manah
- Sweihan
Source: NASA Langley Research Center, POWER Project (NASA POWER), climatology 2001–2020. Licence: Public domain (NASA POWER). As of 2026-09-24.