Solar Energy For Desalination Technologies in Saudi Arabia - Essay Example

?Solar Energy for Thermal Desalination Technologies in Saudi Arabia Prospects of Utilization of Solar Energy for Thermal Desalination Technologies inSaudi Arabia Abstract [Best combined with the abstract in the original dissertation] Fossil Fuels are depleting fast all over the world. Various studies reveal that they are not likely to last more than 50-60 years. Only solution to the world energy needs and for that matter, the energy needs of Saudi Arabia can best be met with renewable energy sources. Solar energy is one of them. The population of the Saudi Arabia is rising fast and so the consumption of water in the country. Shortage of water and depleting sources of fossil fuel has prompted scientist and engineers to search for new technologies that are sustainable and eco-friendly. The paper describes about the current scenario about water resources in Saudi Arabia and how existing demand supply gaps can be filled with the use of thermal desalination technology in the years to come. The table earlier presented Introduction Saudi Arabia is a country of paradoxes, not only in its history and culture but even in its natural resources. In its substrata lies the 18 per cent of all the world’s proven oil reserves, the largest anywhere in the world (Revenue Watch Institute, 2011), and because of this the country is assured of a steady stream of petrodollars that has the potential to make it one of the world’s wealthiest economies. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is situated in one of the world’s most arid regions, with little surface water, very little rainfall, and increasing desertification which is gradual loss of once arable and fertile land to encroaching aridity (TeachMideast, 2011). Thus while it is abundant in the world’s most expensive natural resource, Saudi Arabia is however sorely lacking in that commodity essential to life and plentiful in nearly every other region of the planet – fresh water. Through the years the process of desalination has enabled countries in arid regions to obtain potable water from brackish or seawater. In Saudi Arabia this is being done today on a large scale through oil powered desalination plants. While the use of fossil fuels poses no present concerns for this oil-rich country, government officials, scientists and policy makers are all aware that the supply of oil is not inexhaustible, and eventually shall be depleted. At such time, the country should have been able to build the capability to desalinate water using sustainable sources of energy such as solar radiation, which this desert region has a limitless supply of. Presently, the country is unable to accomplish solar powered desalination on a large scale, and many are pessimistic that this could be done. Statement of the Research Objective: This dissertation aims to explore the viability of harnessing solar energy for the purpose of large-scale desalination of water in Saudi Arabia. Research questions: In order to satisfactorily achieve the research objective, the dissertation shall seek the answers to the following research questions: 1. What is the currently prevailing situation of large-quantity water desalination in Saudi Arabia? 2. What is the rate of water consumption of Saudi Arabia’s population, and what are the chances of a projected shortfall of potable water in the event of the closure of its oil powered desalination plants? 3. How is large-scale solar powered desalination technology described, and what is its feasibility in Saudi Arabia? Q1: Currently prevailing desalination situation An Overview of Desalination Process in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer of the desalinated water, accounting for at least 30 per cent of the total world output. The Kingdom has invested nearly $25 billion in the last 80 years developing the technology for desalination, and in building and operating the desalination plants. Presently, there are some 30 desalination plants in the country, 27 of which supply drinking water to the principal urban centers and industrial locations via a network of 23,000 miles of water pipes (SAMIRAD, 2011). Some of the plants produce output for agricultural purposes, as a direct result of which the country has more than quadrupled its food production. All told, 70 per cent of the total volume of drinking water consumption in the Kingdom is supplied through desalinated technology. (Water Demand, 2010) And furthermore, inasmuch as the desalination plants also generate electricity, they have the capacity to generate a total of some 30 million Megawatt hours of electrical power (SAMIRAD, 2011). It can be said that Saudi Arabia has turned into a modern nation in the last 25 years. The government and the scientific community have spared no opportunity to advance Saudi’s capabilities to enhance its capacity to deliver a constant and sufficient clean water supply. Alnaser and Alnaswer (2011) provided a listing of existing solar sea desalination projects that had been conducted in Saudi Arabia, as follows: Previous renewable energy desalination projects conducted in Saudi Arabia Projects Location Completed Application PV water desalination (0.6cu.m./hr) Sadous Village 1999 PV/RO Interface Solar-thermal desalination Solar Village 1997 Solar distillation of brackish water PV in agriculture (4 kWp) Muzahmia 1996 AC/DC grid connected Long-term performance of PV (3kW) Solar Village 1990 Performance evaluation Fuel cell development (100-1000W) Solar Village 2000 Hydrogen utilization Internal combustion engine (ICE) Solar Village 1995 Hydrogen utilization Solar radiation measurement 12 stations 2000 Saudi solar atlas Wind energy measurement 5 stations 2000 Saudi solar atlas Solar dryers All-Hassa, Qatif 1993 Food dryers (dates, vegetables, etc.) Two solar-thermal dishes (50kW) Solar Village 1994 Advanced solar stirling engine Energy management in buildings Dammam 1993 Energy conservation Solar collectors development Solar Village 1997 Domestic, industrial, agriculture Solar refrigeration Solar Village 2000 Desert application Adapted from: Al Awaji, 2001, as cited in Alnaser & Alnaser, 2011, p. 3084 The present methods of water desalination in Saudi Arabia are energy intensive, and use some 1.5 million barrels of oil daily to power its plants (Arab News, as cited in Patel, 2011). The data released in the recent (May 2011) Euromoney Conference held in Riyadh indicated the following map, with the details in the table following: The current and planned operations of Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) Source: Sixth Euromoney Conference, Riyadh, KSA, May 2011 According to the Euromoney report (May, 2011), the present production and transmission assets of the Kingdom are specified as follows: Current Water Production /Power Generation 27 plants in 16 locations 3.3 million cubic meters per day installed capacity More than 5,000 megawatts power generation capacity Current Water Transmission More than 5,000 kilometres of pipelines 29 pumping stations 158 storage tanks (capacity of 9 million cubic meters) 17 blending stations New Projects Ras Azzour (2,400 megawatts and 1,025,000 cubic meters per day) Yanbu 3 (2,500 megawatts and 550,000 cubic meters per day) Jeddah R03 (200,000 cubic meters per day) (Source: His Excellency the Governor of SWCC, Sixth Euromoney Conference, 2011) The following two images show two of Saudi Arabia’s largest desalination plants, providing a brief profile for each. The Al Jubail plant of Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest desalination plant (Source: West Asia Illustrated Glossary, 2010, p. 2) Estimated project cost: $3.8 billion Product water output: 800,000 cubic meters Total output production capacity: 2,750 megawatts (Source: Arab News, 2009) The Shoaiba Desalination Plant in Saudi Arabia Process type: Multi-Stage Flash Distillation (MSF) Estimated project cost: $1.06 billion Population served: 1.5 million Product water output: 74,000m?/day (Phase 1); 450,000m?/day (Phase 2) Final total production capacity: 150 million m?/year (http://www.water-technology.net/projects/shoaiba-desalination/) Q2: Rate of water consumption and chances of shortfall Saudi Arabia is the country with the third-largest per capita water consumption in the world (Fast Market Research, 2010). However, it is mostly desert area devoid of any lakes or rivers. Saudi has extremely limited water resources compared to the size of its population. The groundwater, stored in several aquifers across the country, is the main source that satisfies more than 90% of its water demand. And despite the construction of 30 desalination plants that supply millions of cubic meters of potable water, the supply is hardly capable of keeping up with the growing demand (Fast Market Research, 2010; Patel, 2011). The following table shows the current availability of water resources in Saudi Arabia. Available Water Resources in Saudi Arabia, 2010 According to the Sixth Euromoney Conference held in Riyadh in May, 2011, the projected population and water demand in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be as follows: His Excellency the Governor of SWCC, Sixth Euromoney Conference, 2011 Saudi Arabia currently ranks third highest in per capita consumption of water, at 249 liters. Since the water is being subsidized by the government, demand is significantly high (Kawach, 2011). The government of Saudi Arabia has been exerting great efforts to secure the water supply, not only for drinking by for agriculture and other purposes. Some of these government projects include such as dams, distribution systems, wastewater collection and treatment facilities in a good number of cities and towns of the kingdom, along with large sea water desalination units. To integrate all efforts and secure the effective water management, the Ministry of Water was formed in 2002. The main objective was to gain the sustainability of water resources in order to further pursue the continued growth of the country. In order to enhance the availability of water and to install treatment facilities for wastewater for the purpose of reusing the water for agricultural purposes, the National Water Company (NWC) was established in 2008 (Abderrahman, 2010). This innovation should hopefully provide additional administrative support and coordination in the light of the past record on water availability. The average yearly precipitation in Saudi Arabia is found to be less than 150 mm. High population growth and high living standards has increased the demand of water for domestic and industrial purposes from 502 MCM in 1980 to about 3600 MCM in 2010. At the same time, agricultural demand of water having peaked in 1992 has gone down to half in 2010. The reason for reduced demand in agriculture is sustainability issue and high cost. The appendix II shows how the water uses changed in last 30 years. (Water Demand…2011) The an Nafud Desert of Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s most arid places. (Source: West Asia Illustrated Glossary, 2010, p. 1) Q3: Feasibility of large-scale solar powered desalination technology Radiation Measurement in Saudi Arabia According to one research report, the average solar radiation in Saudi Arabia is noticed as 5591 Watt hour on unit square meter area. The data collected are from 41 stations in the period of 10 years (Mohandas et al, 1999). The solar radiation measurement in Saudi Arabia is now available for 10 major towns namely Tabuk, Al-Ula, Unayxah, Shaqra, Dawdami, Yabrin, Turabah, Heifa, Kwash, and Najran. Though all the locations offer promising solar radiation but the area of Najran is found to be the best. The method used is called radial basis function neural networks. (Mohandas et al, 1999). They are indicated in the charts provided for in the appendix. Solar energy and duration of sunshine is not the same throughout the year. As per the Solar Radiation Atlas the radiation is found to be in the range of 4.1 and 6.7 kilowatt-hour /sq. meter / day (Alnaser et al., 2004). Future Projects in Saudi Arabia Over the next two decades, the government has committed to investing an additional $6 billion yearly to enhance production and efficiency of the water sector (Fast Market Research, 2010). Several large scale solar-powered water desalination projects are either being planned, are underway, or have recently been commissioned to meet the growing demand for desalination. The table earlier presented on Saudi’s future in desalination (Sixth Euromoney Conference, 2011) mention a few of them. Others are the following: (1) Saudi Arabia's solar-powered sea water desalination plant having capacity of 30,000 cubic meters of water per day is slated to start by 2013. The water will be supplied to the 100,000 people living in the city of Al-Khafji, Saudi Arabia. The project will use ultra-high concentrator photovoltaic (PV) technology. IBM and KACST (King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology) will jointly build the plant (Shanbhag R. 2010). To date, most of Saudi Arabia’s desalination plants typically employ distillation processes. In contrast, the new plant in Al-Khafji and the other upcoming installations will employ the reverse osmosis process which involves passing seawater through a polymer membrane, with the application of pressure in order filter the salt out. The new membranes remove 99.5 per cent of the salt from the original seawater to produce the filtered output (Patel, 2011). The comparative advantage in the opportunity and capital costs of reverse osmosis against other desalination processes are shown in the table following: Opportunity Costs for KSA - Comparative Energy Costs (Source: Wangnick Consulting, 2010) Source: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Desalination Briefing (2) ‘Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction from South Korea’ has been awarded the contract for Ras al-Zour power and water scheme. The plant will produce 226million gallons per day of water through thermal/reverse osmosis hybrid desalination technology. The contract is worth US$1.5 billion. (Saudi Arabia Water Report, 2011) (3) Veolia Water is building one of the largest thermal desalination plants in Saudi Arabia. The plant is meant to produce 0.8 Million m3 of water per day at Jubali City and the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The contract is worth US $945 million. The technology employed is multiple Effect Distillation (MED) process for 27 desalination units. Each unit will have a capacity of 29,600 M3/day. Electrical consumption will be lowest at one-third to that of any other methods of desalination. (Veolia Water, 2011) Barriers to Use Solar Energy in Water Desalination in Saudi Arabia There is no doubt that solar energy offers greatest promise amongst all non fossil fuels. The solar energy is eco friendly, and abundantly available throughout the year. Fortunately, Saudi Arabia is also graced with abundance of solar radiation. Several projects of thermal desalination plants have been implemented and are in operations at various locations harnessing solar energy; however, it has been found to have experienced several barriers in full exploitation of the existing solar technology. That can be listed as per the following. The major impediment has been in the use of solar energy is low efficiency and high cost. The performance of various basic materials used in solar devices limit the use of this technology, particularly the polycrystalline silicon and non-crystalline silicon, coating materials. Apart economics of the technology, detailed studies are needed to understand the social and cultural acceptance of the available technologies across different population groups. Lack of information poses another impediment in harnessing the solar technology as people perceive higher risk in making the investments decisions. (Huraib et al 2010) Recommendations [Best combined with the conclusions and recommendations in the original dissertation] In view of the above scenario, some stringent measures are required to cope up with the situation and to meet the rising demand in wake of population growth and rising standard of living. 1. Certain irrigation practices are not compatible with the given water constraints. Importing food is more economical and that can save precious water, which can be directed for domestic uses. 2. Water is allotted free by the kingdom leads to a lot of wastage. It is prudent to charge partly on the cost of water so as to arrest wastage and judicial use of this precious commodity. 3. All intensive efforts are required to harness solar energy replacing fossil fuels for it is environment friendly and sustainable in the long run. Conclusion With the advent of science and technology in general and in the field of solar energy in particular, more and more thermal desalination plants are likely to be a plausible solution in the long run. Thermal desalination is certainly a most viable solution to mitigate the woes of people of Saudi Arabia for the sustainability and environmentally friendly reasons. [Same appendices as in revised report.]References 1. Abderrahman W. A. (2010), Sustainable Water and Food Security in Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, Available at http://www.miahona.com/upload/publications/2010_Walid_SWPF-2010_Jeddah.pdf [Accessed 26 July 2011] 2. Alnaser, W.E., Eliagoubi, B., Al-Kalak, A., Trabelsi, H., Al-Maalej, M., El-Sayed, H.M., Alloush, M., (2004), First Solar Radiation Atlas for the Arab World, Renewable Energy 29, 1085–1107 3. Huraib, F.S., Hasnain, S.M., Alawaji, S.H., (2010) Lessons Learned from Solar Energy Projects in Saudi Arabia, Available at www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0960148196884801 [Accessed 26 July 2011] 4. Kawach, Nadim, (2011) Saudi Arabia urged to end water subsidies, Available at http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/saudi-arabia-urged-to-end-water-subsidies-2010-10-09-1.301383 [Accessed 27 July 2011] 5. 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Accessed 8 August 2011 from http://www.teachmideast.org/essays/27-geography/52-middle-eastern-deserts Patel, Prachi 2011 Solar-Powered Desalination SAMIRAD Saudi Arabian Market Information Resource http://www.saudinf.com/main/a541.htm Read More