Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia plans to generate 9.5 gigawatts of electricity from renewable energy by 2030, it said on Monday as it approved its Vision 2030 reform plan.

The plan, a package of economic and social policies is designed to free the kingdom from dependence on oil exports.

"Even though we have an impressive natural potential for solar and wind power, and our local energy consumption will increase threefold by 2030, we still lack a competitive renewable sector at present."

"To build up the sector, we have set ourselves an initial target of generating 9.5 gigawatts of renewable energy," according to a text of the vision on state news agency SPA.

In 2012, the world's top oil exporter said it would install 17 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2032 as well as around 41 GW of solar capacity.

Last year, the president of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, the government department responsible for the programme, said the outlook has been revised to focus on 2040 as the major milestone for long-term energy planning in Saudi Arabia. – Reuters