The Wall Street Journal reports Saudi Arabia Shelves Work on SoftBank's $200 Billion Solar Project (paywalled, alternate URL):
Saudi Arabia has put on hold a $200 billion plan with SoftBank Group Corp. to build the world's biggest solar-power-generation project, said Saudi government officials, setting back another eye-catching transformation project in the kingdom.
The stalled solar project marks a setback for a partnership between Saudi Arabia and SoftBank that has pursued ambitious ideas. Together, they have created a $100 billion fund for technology company investments that has resulted in a rush of new money flooding into startups.
The solar project would have turned the world's most important oil producer into a giant in solar power, ultimately generating about 200 gigawatts of energy -- more than three times the country's daily needs. The plan was announced by SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in New York last March and was meant to be an extension of their partnership.
Now, officials and a Saudi government adviser said, no one is actively working on the project.
Instead, the officials and the adviser said the Saudi kingdom is working up a broader, more practical strategy to boost renewable energy, to be announced in late October around the time of an investment conference in Riyadh. The announcement will help resolve the confusion that the SoftBank plan created and clarify the kingdom's renewable energy goals, a Saudi official said.
The original plan was based on Saudi Arabia completing an IPO of the Saudi Aramco oil company which was, at one time, estimated to raise $2 trillion. Then the price of oil dropped. The price has recovered somewhat, but an IPO would certainly be more lucrative if the price of oil were higher. So spending from the proceeds of the IPO on a solar farm have been pushed back.
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SoftBank and Toyota team up to develop services powered by self-driving vehicles
SoftBank is getting into self-driving car services after the Japanese tech giant announced a joint-venture with Toyota in its native Japan.
SoftBank is invested in Uber and a range of other ride-hailing startups like Didi in China and Grab in Southeast Asia, but this initiative with Toyota is not related to those deals. Instead, it is designed to combine SoftBank's focus on internet-of-things technology and Toyota's connected vehicle services platform to enable new types of services that run on autonomous vehicle tech.
Called MONET — after 'mobility network' — the joint venture will essentially assign autonomous vehicles to various different "just in time" services. That just in time caveat essentially means more than on-demand. SoftBank suggests it'll mean that services are performed in transit. That could be food prepared as it is delivered, hospital shuttles that host medical examinations, or mobile offices, according to examples given by SoftBank.
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Saudi Arabia Planning $500 Billion Megacity and Business Zone
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Japan Teams up With Uber, Airbus and 19 Others on Flying Taxi Plan
Saudi Arabia Shelves Work on SoftBank's $200 Billion Solar Project
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Monday October 01 2018, @07:11AM
Saudi Arabia Planning $500 Billion Megacity and Business Zone [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bob_super on Monday October 01 2018, @07:59AM
> The price has recovered somewhat
The price of oil is now at the highest point in many years, and the upcoming Iran sanctions pretty much guarantee it's gonna stay that way and keep climbing. (combined with rising interest rates, a nice oil/commodities bubble might be what we need to kill the overdue tech bubble)
If you need a Christmas plane ticket, buy it now.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday October 01 2018, @11:44AM (1 child)
Was the 3x capacity to cover growth, or were they going to be generating LH2 for export?
If I were Sheik I'd at least install enough solar to cover drinking water needs, plus a modest military force to defend the water generation facility for the coming resource wars.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Monday October 01 2018, @12:10PM
My guess: kinetic energy in the form of hypersonic projectiles accelerated by rail guns. The "first wave prospective customers" being Iran and Yemen, with Qatar in the pipeline [wikipedia.org]
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday October 01 2018, @03:24PM (2 children)
So the shelves are holding up the solar panels? Why not just mount them on the ground.
It took me way too long to figure out what the title meant. I am dumb.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Monday October 01 2018, @06:06PM
Repeat the formula of their success:
Bury the panels, not too shallow, not too deep. In another 65 Million years, pump them out.
(Score: 3, Touché) by driverless on Tuesday October 02 2018, @01:49AM
Then they'd get trodden on by the camels. Do try and keep up at the back there.