GCC Energy Security Symposium (Volume 2011, Issue 2)

Within the Gulf Co-Operation Council Countries (GCCC), there is no abundant supply of cheap energy as many think. The sustainability of the energy systems in the GCCC is questionable. Energy problems are expected to appear in the years to come due to rapidly growing energy demands, including electric power (EP) generation. The demands can consume full production of fuel in most of the GCCC within a few decades if the current pattern of consumption prevails. Electric power needs natural gas and all of the GCCC, except Qatar, are in short supply of NG, and have to import it to run their power plants. NG is much cheaper and less harmful to the environment than the heavy oil extensively used in some of the GCCC countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Introducing renewable energy, or nuclear energy, is a necessity for the GCCC to keep the flow of their main income obtained from selling the oil.

King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) has given solar energy research and technology development great interest and attention as they represent prominent importance for the future economic and social development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. KACST’s activities in the area of solar energy research represent the core foundation of these activities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where they date back to 1980s. Building solar village research labs near Riyadh was a model and an important achievement at the level of applied science research locally, regionally, and internationally where specialists in these labs work on the development of new energy systems in general, and solar energy in particular, in addition to the area of energy conservation by utilizing the latest technologies available. Many of recent and proposed projects will be discussed in the presentation.

UAEU engineering faculty has initiated several research projects on renewable and alternative energy resources. In this talk I will discuss briefly recent research advances on power interface blocks between renewable energy sources (photo-voltaic or fuel cell) and the end user/load. In addition, research developments to enhance battery life span will be also presented. Also, two interdisciplinary projects on renewable energy for local UAE applications will be discussed. Finally, thoughts on successes and failures in collaborative research will be shared.

Qatar has a strong solar energy potential, (2070-2250)kWH/m²yr, which could fulfil the future need for energy balance outlined in Qatar Vision 2030. The mean hourly, daily, monthly and yearly solar irradiation data measured on the ground and by satellite, for several cities such as; Doha, Dukhan, Al-Khor, Ruwais, Abu-Samra, Al-Utoriyah, and Rodhat Al-Faras has been investigated. The measured data on the ground is compared with the satellite data. This preliminary investigation and data analysis could be good preliminary design for a "Qatar Solar Atlas".

The electrical energy consumption breakdown by sectors; residential, commercial, government, industrial, and the total consumption through (2007-2009) are studied. The residential sector has the highest consumption at 35%, while the industrial sector uses less. A residential villa consumes three times as much electrical energy as a residential flat. This sector needs energy auditing to save energy on air conditioning and lighting. The objective of this research is to assist and lead the authority and government to the energy roadmap, energy footprint, Qatar solar atlas, and energy policy to secure Qatar's energy future by minimizing energy demand and presenting the solar energy potential.

In this research, the potential of solar energy to achieve Qatar Vision 2030 is presented. The solar energy required to be installed is addressed with emphasize on the solar energy potential with gradual application using mature and proven solar technology, such as solar parabolic trough (20% efficiency) and solar dish-Stirling engine (30% efficiency). Solar dish-Ericsson engine as the state-of-the-art with advanced high solar efficiency (45%), which converters remain attractive candidate power supply technology to meet 21th century emission and fuel economy requirements are investigated.

The world is facing unprecedented demand on every type of energy source to satisfy the energy thirst of urban development around the globe. The GCC countries are no exception. Kuwait, as an example of the GCC countries, consumed more than 160 million barrels equivalent of energy resources in 2010 alone to fulfill domestic energy demand. The overall energy consuming industries includes electrical power generation and water desalination plants, the oil industry, fuels for local transportation, and household use. The power generation and water desalination and oil industries have the highest share at around 53% and 27%, respectively. In the power plants, most of this energy is consumed as fuel for boilers to generate steam. Fuel required to run those plants in 2009 alone is a mix of heavy oil (44 million barrels); crude oil (20 million barrels); gas oil (11 million barrels) and 150,123 million m³ of natural gas. In the oil industries, the steam is used to heat petroleum feedstock for refining processes. For both power stations and oil industries, fuel cost represents a major portion of the operating cost.

Focusing attention on the power generation industry, the GCC demand for electricity has had an annual growth rate of 6-8% in the last decade and is expected to stay within the range of 5-6% in the next decade. The annual amount of fuels consumed by the power industry exceeds 4,500 million for 2010 in Kuwait alone.

This talk will explore the challenges facing the economic and social development in the GCC and highlight the opportunity lying in renewable resources, especially solar and wind, to develop an industry that will play a major role in the sustainable development of the region and secure unconventional jobs for the younger generation.

Qatar experienced very rapid economic growth with the discovery and production of fuel oil and natural gas (NG); and their price increases. The consumption of fresh, desalted seawater (DW) and electric power (EP) are increasing due to population increase and the rising standard of living. The main EP generating power plants (PP) are using either simple gas turbines (GT) cycle, or GT combined with steam turbines (ST) to form a gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC).

The main source of potable water is secured by DW. The DW represents 99% of the municipal water supply. DW is generated by thermally operated desalting systems, usually multi stage flash (MSF) and recently multi effect (MED) desalting units; usually in combination with PP. These desalting units are supplied with steam as thermal energy input coming from either heat recovery steam generators (HRSG) coupled with gas turbines (GT), or steam extracted (or discharged) from steam turbines of the GTCC. These necessitate the consumption of huge amounts fossil fuel (FF) energy to produce the DW. Burning FF to generate EP and DW pollutes the environment by emitting carbon dioxide CO2, nitrogen oxides NOx, and sulfuric oxides SOx, with quantities directly related with the consumed FF. Raising the efficiencies of producing EP and DW are essential to decrease their impact on the environment. One of Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) aims is to find the energy footprints in Qatar. This is to map the energy supply, demands, and losses in certain sectors of the country, mainly in the EP and DW generating PP; and in buildings. Monitoring the consumed energy and conducting research to lower the consumption is always needed.

This paper concerns with the energy resources in Qatar, and their footprints in the main sectors, of EP and DW production, industry and buildings. It presents analysis of the energy flows, demands, and conservation in these sectors. The inefficiencies in generating EP and DW, and their consumptions by buildings, and their impact on the environment are discussed. Looking for very energy efficient ways to save the nation’s main income (NG and fuel oil production) is the aim of this study. It is also essential to promote conservation measures for both water and power.

The use of nuclear power plants (NPP) to generate electric power (EP) is a common practice by many countries. Examples of these countries and their (EP percentage generated by NPP) are: Armenia (39.4), Belgium (52), Bulgaria (33), Czeck Republic (33), Finland (28.4), France (74), Germany (28.4), Hungry (42.1), Japan (29), South Korea (32), Romania (19.1), Russia (17), Slovakia (51.8), Spain (20.2), Slovania (37.3), Sweden (38.1), Switzerland (38), Ukrain (48.1), United Kingdom (15.7), and USA (19.6). China, India, and Pakistan started to rely heavily on NPP to generate EP and desalting seawater (DW) by nuclear desalination (ND). This is due to the rising cost of fossil fuel (FF), its insecure supply, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions when burned. The increases of FF consumption and its cost (about $100 per barrel level) motivate other countries, even oil exporting countries like United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, to look for cheaper alternatives to produce both EP and desalted seawater (DW) on a large scale. The locally consumed FF in these countries is deducted from their reserves and/or decreases their income. In addition, the GHG emission is the main contributer to global warming and adversly affects the environment.

All Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCCC) consume huge amounts of natural gas (NG) in co-generation power desalting plants (CPDP) producing EP and DW. The use of the NG cannot be expanded indefinitely as its reserve and supplies are finite. Almost all GCCC, except Qatar, are in short supply of NG. Sustainable renewable energy (RE) sources, such solar, wind, geothermal, and wave energies, are seriously explored. The share of RE sources are so little and their wide expansions in the next decade are questionable. Presently, nuclear energy (NE) is the only economically viable option for large scale alternative to FF to generate EP and DW. But, the use of NE raises many concerns about safety, high capital cost and radiation effects on the surroundings and workers, in both the short and long terms. The question to be raised is not to accept nuclear power plants or not; as it may be the only economically viable alternative to FF for the time being. The real question is are NPPs safe, especially in countries at different development stages? NE can present a sustainable way to produce EP and DW if its problems are solved; and can become a significant option for meeting future GCCC energy needs at low cost and in an environmentally acceptable manner.

The prospects of usig nuclear CPDP (N-CPDP) in Qatar and other GCCC, and the required conditions to build NPP, and the problems associated with it, are discussed in this paper.

We have investigated tandem devices based on III-V and IV semiconductor materials for the top and bottom sub-cells such as InGaAs(P)/InP, GaAs/Ge, AlGaAs/Si and Si/Ge assembled with three terminals and operated independently. The two sub-cells are connected back to back and separated by a middle common contact. Compared with two terminals, three terminals avoid the loss due to current mismatching between the sub-cells, and the resistance loss originating from the tunnel junction between the sub-cells.

We have undertaken a comprehensive modeling and simulation for device design, optimization and performance prediction of these tandem cells. Optimal current-voltage and power-voltage characteristics were generated for individual cells together with the corresponding quantum efficiency spectra. The predictions show that an extended spectral coverage is achieved leading to an enhanced overall performance of these tandem devices.

The potential applications of these devices in PV and concentrator PV (CPV) were assessed and the output parameters were predicted as a function of the simulated concentration ratio of the incident light under AM1.5 illumination conditions. TPV applications were also investigated as some of the materials used (like InGaAs and Ge) are sensitive to the near infrared. Because temperature is critical for device operation under CPV and TPV especially in this part of the world, the effect of the operating temperature on the overall efficiency was also simulated and discussed.

Climate change is one of the largest threats both for the global economy and the local community. It is predicted that, by 2100, average temperatures could rise as much as six degrees Celsius. The UK is anticipated to become hotter and drier in summer and milder and wetter in winter, even under low carbon emissions scenarios. In addition to rising fuel cost, which may render selected buildings uneconomic to operate in the future, a number of buildings are at risk of being uninhabitable in summer if the climate develops as predicted under a high global emission scenario. Both individual buildings and entire cities are required to adapt to such scenarios.

Current research of the Sustainable Energy Research Group focusses on evaluating buildings and their façades in terms of their vulnerability to climate change, with a particular emphasis on summer overheating. First assessments show that many buildings in the commercial sector are at risk of being uninhabitable in the future without additional energy-intensive cooling devices. Whilst the majority of offices only showed a moderate overheating in the simulations with the industry standard weather file, significant overheating was observed in reality. In addition to this simulation, measured Southampton weather data was used to verify the validity of the simulation model. A climate change adapted industry standard weatherfile for the 2050's which was generated with the CCWeatherGen tool shows a far better match with the 2006 observations than the original file. This serves to highlight that climate change adapted weather data mayserve to better predict building performance than current weather files derived from historic data.

The results presented here take into account future climate scenarios through a methodology, developed in Southampton, which generates weather data formats that are integrated into simulation programs used in the analysis. The second part of the presentation concentrates on applying such methodologies for other cases in Middle East such as, Qatar and UAE plus others.