Solar Energy Potentials and Benefits in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: A Review of Substantial Issues

Abstract

It is a well-known fact that the fossil fuel industry has dominated the economy of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries during the last few decades. However, recent developments show that most of the GCC countries plan to increase the share of renewable energy (RE) in their future electrical power production. To ensure realistic increase in the share of RE in the production of electricity in the future, firm policies must be laid down with the objective to promote and market the benefit of RE to their citizens. Due to the high-solar radiation in the GCC region, the focus is now on solar energy development. This paper presents an up-to-date review of the progress made on solar energy in the GCC together with the challenges and the way forward. Some of the challenges and barriers hindering the development of RE in the GCC are in the area of technological know-how, policy development, and insufficient application of RE technology integrated in the buildings among others. Areas of improvement include promoting research and development, public/private initiatives, legislation and regulatory framework, solutions to technical issues and exchange of knowledge, scientific advice, and last but not the least is the issue of building integration with RE.

Analyzing the Impact of Bapco 5 MW Solar PV Grid-Connected Project on Bahrain’s Outlook for Energy-Mix Production

“…An up-to-date review of the progress made on solar energy in the GCC Countries, together with the challenges and barriers hindering the development of Renewable Energy in these countries in technology, policy development, and insufficient application of RE technology integrated to the buildings and how successful projects could contribute to overcome such barriers, is explained in detail elsewhere [24].…”

Effect of Solar Tilt Angles on Photovoltaic Module Performance: A Behavioral Optimization Approach

“…Among various forms of non-conventional environment based energy sources, such as biomass, geothermal, wind, ocean, etc., solar energy has become one of the best prospects for widespread applications because of its accessibility and abundance [2] . The abundant solar energy is an obvious choice for clean energy, which can provide security for future growth and development [3] . Recently, many researchers have come up with several effective solar power generating approaches, in dealing with in-depth understanding of the operating principle of such systems [4] .…”

The impact of the rise of using solar energy in GCC countries

“…GCC countries had the passion in using renewable energies since 1970's. This is no surprise for GCC countries, as it is blessed with an abundance solar energy, as the annual average solar radiation within the GCC countries is relatively equal to 1.1 barrel of oil equivalent per m 2 . The radiation is the highest in Kuwait, in June-July, (8200 kWh/m 2 ) and the lowest in Oman (6400 kWh/m 2 ).…”

“…Now all GCC countries had conducted, relatively, large project in solar and wind energy, especially Kuwait (currently about 70 MW among a plan of 2000 MW by 2030), UAE (currently about 300 MW among a plan of 2500 MW by 2030) and Saudi Arabia (with an ambitious renewable energy target of 3450 GW by 2020, with a further 6000 GW envisioned by 2023 and to 200 000 MW by 2030). Table 1 sheds light on current large projects [2,3]. Figure 1 illustrates the current and future planned solar projects in the pipeline in the GCC countries [2].…”

“…Table 1 sheds light on current large projects [2,3]. Figure 1 illustrates the current and future planned solar projects in the pipeline in the GCC countries [2]. However, it is thought that more major solar projectsat GW scalewill be announced officially, i.e.…”