Saudi Arabia’s ambitious renewables goals should be treated with caution after a series of "false starts" to clean energy development in the oil-rich kingdom, according to analysts at BMI Research.

The Saudi government earlier this week fired the starting pistol on a 400MW wind/300MW solar tender at the start of a programme it hopes will eventually see 9.5GW of renewables in place by 2023, providing a "new engine of growth" for its economy.

But