Two major forms of solar-generated power may be deployed across the region
The MENA, or the Middle East and North Africa, region has every reason to become a global major in renewable energy. Not only can it capitalise on recent technological advancements in renewables, given its potential in wind and solar power, there are also great incentives in pursuing clean energy such as decreased pollution level, reduced carbon emissions and the creation of jobs amongst its citizens, to name a few.
To begin with, the MENA region holds 45 per cent of the world’s energy potential from renewable sources, according to a recent study released by the consultancy Booz & Company. It describes the region as having the opportunity to reinvent its energy sector which is good for its economies. “The competitive landscape in the renewable energy sector is still evolving,” the report says. “Those countries that act quickly at this stage could eventually become the sector’s world leaders.”
Titled “A New Source of Power: The Potential for Renewable Energy in the MENA Region”, the 28-page report stresses that the region’s renewable energy potential is enough to generate more than three times the world’s total power demand. But MENA countries will have to build between 80 and 90 gigawatts of new capacity by 2017, says Dr Walid Fayad, principal at Booz & Company, if the region is to meet an annual demand that is seen to rise to seven per cent for the next decade.
RENEWABLES AND NUCLEAR POWER
And renewable energy initiatives had better be pursued in the region, as nine out of 10 consumers in the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council, or the GCC bloc, want their respective country to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels for power generation. Using less energy is not the solution to having a cleaner environment; a clean source is, if we are to go by a research done by Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. And this can be done through increased government intervention in dealing with energy-related challenges.
“We cannot address climate change unless we both create new sources of clean energy and reduce consumer demand,” says Omar Boulos, managing director of Accenture Middle East. “But our survey shows that consumers do not think lower energy use is a priority. It will take many years before renewable alternatives come fully on stream. Until they do, governments and energy companies will have to find creative ways to transform consumer habits and improve energy efficiency.”
Efforts to pursue nuclear power may pay off as these could result to having lowcarbon energy sources in the region, according to two-thirds of respondents to the Accenture World Energy Survey, which covered Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Oman and Kuwait. While 13% of the respondents opted for nuclear power to increase electricity generation, 54% believed that both nuclear and renewable sources should be pursued further. This brought to 67% the ratio of consumers who are for the increased use of nuclear power, higher than the world average of 50%.
“It is clear that there is popular sentiment in the region for a move toward a low-carbon economy,” Boulos says. “In our region, in particular, it will take some time to reach that goal, but the strong trust in the collaboration between energy companies and governments is an indication that foundations are there to support this transition.”
SOLAR POWER
Experts say solar power makes the most sense in the MENA countries, especially the Gulf Arab states, what with the vast expanse of desert in the region. In the UAE, for instance, peak production in the middle of the day is also the time when air conditioning is most needed. Extreme summer temperatures and high level of dust, however, can have negative impact on efforts to pursue solar energy.
Amin Lakhani, general manager at Apex Power Concepts, once told a local paper that sunlight, not heat, is good for production of electricity. Another setback in pursuing solar energy, especially in the UAE, could be its subsidised prices of electricity. When residents enjoy cheap electricity, experts opine, there is not enough motivation to look for green energy options. The good news here is that, once solar energy technologies are developed, the costs of clean energy will drop.
The Booz & Company report, written by Fayad, Ibrahim El-Husseini, Tarek El Sayed and Daniel Zywietz, stresses that MENA’s potential for renewables “has gone largely untapped” because policy decisions always veer toward conventional sources of energy. “Given the region’s conventional fossil fuel resources, these decisions were understandable,” the report says. “However, considering the new demand for power driven by the region’s economic growth and swelling populations, policymakers will have to seek new sources of supply.”
Should the region develop its renewable energy sector, its oil and gas resources could have become high-margin inputs into industries like petrochemicals. In other words, these fossil fuels could have greater value than their present form as feedstock for power generation. “Finally, the use of renewable energy would reduce air pollution levels and create selfsustaining industries that would diversify regional economies,” the report adds. “These considerations should encourage the governments of the MENA region to undertake a full review of their renewable energy opportunities.”
GREEN INVESTMENTS
In the global arena, the boom in renewable is likely to become a sustainable trend rather than a bubble, owing to four major trends, namely, concerns over climate change, energy security, supply and demand fundamentals and technological improvements. The Booz & Company report says global interest in renewables is nothing new, as high oil prices in the 1970s and ‘80s triggered investments in clean energy. But this interest had waned as oil crisis passed. It remarks, “Investments in clean energy continued to fluctuate along with oil prices as the 21st century began.”
In much of the MENA region, however, renewables are underfunded or not funded at all – well, at least in the last five years to 2008. The case for renewable energy, however, is stronger in this region than any in many other areas worldwide, owing to its abundance of sunlight, depleting hydrocarbon resources, rising pollution levels and, as mentioned above, the need to free oil and gas for more profitable resources.
“If renewable energy sources could replace the oil or gas currently used for power generation, the surpluses created could become available for more profitable downstream applications, such as aluminum or petrochemicals,” the Booz & Company report says. While wind and solar offer the greatest potential for renewables in the region, it adds, other forms like geothermal and biomass may also be considered, although most MENA countries do not have the resources for these.
If we are to focus on good sites in the region for wind power, such as in the Gulf of Suez and on the coast of the Egyptian and Saudi Arabian Red Sea, the cost for onshore wind power is already competitive with power generation using fossil fuel. Onshore wind power systems are 40% cheaper to build than offshore systems, but the sea has more consistent winds to offer.
For the solar-generated power, the MENA region has an abundance of solar radiation, the key ingredient for any solar technology. However, governments here are doing research on how to tackle various technological challenges such as dust and extreme temperatures during summer.
The two major forms of solar-generated power are concentrating solar power (CSP), which uses mirrors and lenses to concentrate solar energy within plants that are utility-scale generators, and photovoltaic (PV) solar power, which directly converts sunlight into electricity using semiconductors. The latter is often used on a small-scale, such as households and small buildings.
“Despite these difficulties, both solar technologies could be deployed widely throughout the region,” the report says. “Each has advantages in certain cir¬cumstances, and the best approach for many MENA countries will likely be to use some combination of the two.”
