Technical and Economical Investigation of Renewable Energy Sources for Supplying Offshore Oil production Facilities at The Gulf of Suez Area

Abstract

The Gulf of Suez is highly susceptible to economic and energy security due to the heavy need for imported fossil fuels. The energy produced from fossil fuels causes serious environmental pollution. So, it is important to find other clean sources of energy for stabilizing the released amount of carbon dioxide. Gulf of Suez has the potential to develop clean Solar Photovoltaic (PV) and wind systems to improve economic and environmental performance. This paper proposes a combination of floating solar panels (FSP) and offshore wind turbines to solve the main critical issues, such as the land area required for a large number of cells and the space required for wind turbines. In addition to their good economical and environmental benefits. A simplified model is provided to investigate the replacement of traditional generating units (Diesel and Gas operated) supplying offshore oil production field facilities at the Gulf of Suez area with a mix of renewable resources. The load flow analysis is carried out for the model and the cost is calculated and compared for four schemas, the traditional generating, Wind-Gas, PV-Gas, and PV-Wind-Gas hybrid system. From the techno-economic analysis and comparing environmental benefits, floating solar systems and offshore wind turbines can provide a good solution to the existing problems of energy needs with environmental impacts considered.