Abdulrahman Al-Falih

Saudi engineer leading global renewable energy transformation

Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Falih, a Saudi Arabian engineer and former CEO of ACWA Power, is driving the Middle East's energy transition. As architect of the $200 billion NEOM smart city project's renewable energy infrastructure, he pioneered the world's largest solar power plant at Sakaka (2023). His Vision 2030 initiative aims to reduce Saudi Arabia's oil dependency by 50%, creating 1.5 million green jobs. Through ACWA Power, he developed floating solar solutions for water-scarce regions, winning the 2022 Global Energy Prize. His TEDx talk 'Energy Without Borders' (2021) introduced blockchain-based energy trading systems. Recently appointed to the World Economic Forum's Energy Transition Council, his innovations in CSP (concentrated solar power) have cut project costs by 60%. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) credits his work with accelerating global solar adoption by 18 months.