A review of Renewable Energy and Solar Industry Growth in the GCC Region

Munawwar, Saima; Ghedira, Hosni

doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2015.06.069

Cited by 65 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…In addition, it indicated that Qatar has set a target to generate at least 2% of electrical power from solar energy by 2020. Regarding wind energy, the study indicated that Qatar has a reasonable power density that allows the country to use this natural energy source [6].…”

Section: Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qatar’s Wind Energy Potential with Associated Financial and Environmental Benefits for the Natural Gas Industry

Méndez

Biçer

2019

Energies

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This study analyzes the possibility to use the wind's kinetic energy to produce electricity in Northern Qatar for the natural gas processing industry. An evaluation of the wind potentiality is performed based on a thorough analysis of parameters such as wind speed and direction, temperature, atmospheric pressure, and air density. In addition, based on the measured parameters, a commercial wind turbine is selected, and a case study is presented in order to quantify the energy that a wind farm could produce and its environmental benefits. Furthermore, an economical assessment is made to quantify the repercussions that it could produce if this wind farm substitutes a fraction of the energy demand (within the oil and gas field) that is currently generated by traditional hydrocarbons.The results indicate that the environmental parameters, led by a 5.06 m/s wind speed mean, allow the production of wind energy in the area with an annual CO 2 savings of 6.813 tons in a 17 MW wind power plant. This enables Qatar to reduce its internal oil and gas consumption. As a result, the amount of hydrocarbon (natural gas) saved could be used for exportation purposes, generating a positive outcome for the economy with a cost savings of about 3.32 million US$ per year through such a small size wind power plant. From the energy production point of view, the natural parameters enable a single wind turbine to produce an average of 6995.26 MWh of electricity. Furthermore, the wind farm utilized in the case study is capable of generating an average of 34.976 MWh in a year.

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Section: Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qatar’s Wind Energy Potential with Associated Financial and Environmental Benefits for the Natural Gas Industry

Méndez

Biçer

2019

Energies

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“…The partnership could also include Fort Bliss in a joint effort to advance its projects to expand solar power for the military base (Delgado et al, ; Hall & Fischer, ; Prehoda, Schelly, & Pearce, ). In Abu Dhabi's case, Alsheghri et al () could promote their project as a key means to help fulfill the UAE's goal of leadership in adoption of RE generation (Alnaser & Alnaser, ; Munawwar & Ghedira, ). Lastly, the Denmark desalination plant could use surplus energy from the new wind farms and rooftop PV systems to generate enough new electricity supplies to make Denmark a hub for grid expansion in southwest Australia (Fornarelli et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to growing the number of rooftop solar installations for the purposes of powering a desalination plant (Fornarelli et al, ), this could include marketing the Masdar Institute Project (Alsheghri et al, ) as a prototype toward low‐carbon desalination. Such an initiative would be timely given that desalination supplies 80–90% of drinking water supplies for Persian Gulf countries and the region wants to make concerted efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and its dependence on fossil fuels (Alnaser & Alnaser, ; Munawwar & Ghedira, ; Shahzad et al, ). Lastly, linking solar desalination with water resilience as a national defense project could attract approval from the Department of Defense (DoD) for joint solar projects with Fort Bliss and El Paso Water, which could in turn distinguish El Paso as a leader in energy, water, and carbon independence (Delgado et al, ; Hall & Fischer, ; Nguyen, Van Broekhoven, Judson, & Ross, ; Prehoda et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar desalination: Cases, synthesis, and challenges

2020

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Desalination will become an increasingly important water resource to supply a growing world population that will face greater water scarcity in the coming decades. Desalination processes are energy-intensive and currently rely on fossil fuels that contribute to global warming and exacerbate the planet's water woes. Solar power, as a low-carbon energy resource, can reduce desalination's environmental footprint. However, there are many logistical considerations to take into account when planning solar desalination projects. This paper examines six of these issues, which include: (a) the spatial distribution of solar energy and saline water, (b) modeling tools to measure the financial feasibility of solar powered desalination plants, (c) community approval, (d) interconnection policies for solar desalination plants connected to the regional grid, (e) combining solar energy with other renewable energy sources, and (f) potential carbon savings from switching to solar energy. The paper will conduct its analysis through four key case studies in El Paso, Texas, Abilene, Texas, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and Denmark, Australia. The paper concludes with a discussion on how improved solar technology will further the economic prospects of solar desalination and an analysis of brine disposal options that include siting seawater desalination operations in waters with high circulation and explaining how brine harvesting could lead to useful economic mineral products such as sodium, chlorine, potassium, and magnesium. This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Sustainable Engineering of Water K E Y W O R D S desalination, solar energy, water-energy nexus

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“…On the other hand, the region has a significant potential for untapped renewable energy given its geographic and environmental characteristics, particularly for solar and wind energy. Several studies have investigated renewable energy potential in the Middle East, [49][50][51] and it was reported that the levels of solar insolation in the region are among the highest in the world. 52 Given the challenges associated with growing dependence on fossil fuels for energy production and consumption, the main aim of this study is to estimate the expected growth in energy demand over the next 20 years to underline associated challenges with respect to growing fossil fuel consumption and increasing power demand.…”

Section: Power Generationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends of energy demand in the Middle East: A sectoral level analysis

Bayomi

Fernández

2017

Int J Energy Res

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Summary The Middle East region is a key player in the world energy market today. It holds approximately over 50% of the world's proven fossil fuel reserves. Yet, the region is significantly challenged by the large dependence on finite fossil fuel resources in its primary energy supply. The intricate relationship between climate change mitigation and the development of energy systems underlines great uncertainty over the future of energy development in the Middle East. Such uncertainty is greatly linked to growing energy demands and the region's capacity to transition to low‐carbon energy systems. Over the past 20 years, the total primary energy demand in the Middle has almost tripled due to rapid population growth and economic development. Notably, most of the growing energy demand was concentrated in 5 countries, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, and the UAE. These 5 countries represented around 82% of the total primary energy demand in 2015, with Saudi Arabia and Iran alone accounted for 60%. The core question of this paper is what are the possible implications of growing energy demands in these countries and which sectors will entail significant increases in the projected energy requirements? The significance of the work presented here stems from analyzing 4 major countries that constitute the largest share in Middle East's total energy consumption and associated emissions. Examining these 4 countries together is important to highlight how future increase in these countries could largely affect the overall energy demand from the Middle East region in the next 20 years. Thus, the scope of the paper is looking at energy demand implications in 4 countries, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Iraq is excluded from the analysis due to the large political uncertainty associated with Iraq's energy development. Here, a regression model is used to forecast energy demand from 5 economic sectors across the 4 countries using projected increase in population and gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030. Results indicate that most of the projected energy demand will be from Iran and Saudi Arabia. In addition, industry and transportation sectors will witness the largest increase among the 5 sectors examined in the paper. For instance, industry and transportation sector will collectively account for 52% and 67% of the projected energy demand in Iran and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Such results are important to highlight when ascertaining sectoral level implications of future energy demands and to determine potential areas where energy savings can be made.

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A review of Renewable Energy and Solar Industry Growth in the GCC Region

Cited by 65 publications

References 8 publications

Qatar’s Wind Energy Potential with Associated Financial and Environmental Benefits for the Natural Gas Industry

Qatar’s Wind Energy Potential with Associated Financial and Environmental Benefits for the Natural Gas Industry

Solar desalination: Cases, synthesis, and challenges

Trends of energy demand in the Middle East: A sectoral level analysis

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