Saudi Water & Power Forum (SWPF 2012)

I attended the first and second day of the SWPF 2012. This is the main event for Power and Water industry in Saudi Arabia, which is being held in the Jeddah Hilton hotel.

The event gathers many of the local utility, regulatory, governmental, financing and investing entities as well International investors, manufacturers & developers.

This year there seems to be a strong focus on waste water re-use, indeed this dominated the discussions in the first day of the event. Apparently, more than 80% of fresh water demand is consumed by agriculture, which utilizes non-renewable ground water which is estimated will last only 20 years at current consumption rates.

The National Water Company (NWC) has a dedicated division charged with re-using and selling as much treated waste water as possible, especially for irrigation purposes. To support this initiative the Saudi Government passed a law that no further well (ground water) licences shall be granted if treated waste water is available.

In the second day, the focus fully shifted to Renewable Energy. The discussion involved KACARE, SWCC and other prominent guests. A lot of focus was given to "Solar Desalination" the Governor of SWCC even went as far as claiming the Saudi Arabia has the best environment and conditions to make Solar Desalination a success, he sighted their Khafji plant (30,000 m3/day PV-RO) which is currently under construction as the first step in this direction.

KACARE also outlined their vision for Saudi Arabia to have a more diversified energy supply mix with 17.6 GW Nuclear, 25 GW CSP, 16 GW PV, 9 GW Wind, 1 GW Geothermal, 3 GW Waste-to-energy all by 2032.

KACARE were very clear of their preference for CSP over PV, as it is believed that CSP has the greatest potential over the long term for cost reduction and creation of a more dynamic economic sector. Indeed, it is their vision that Saudi Arabia will be the world leader in CSP implementation and development.

Although no firm road map has yet been proposed on how to achieve these energy targets, however, it was hinted that Renewable Energy projects would be introduced through a mix of Feed-in Tariff for minor supply quantities and take-or-pay concessions by a credit worthy off-taker for larger capacities.

 

 

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Jordan most attractive Cleantech markets in MENA

A recent 2012 report by Ernst & Young concluded that Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Jordan as the most attractive Cleantech markets in the MENA region due to their government plans, budgets and long-term strategies. These countries have demonstrated investments in large initiatives such as KACARE for Saudi Arabia, Masdar for UAE and the ‘Green’ FIFA World Cup 2022 for Qatar. Although Jordan has limited financial resources, a new law was issued on renewable energy, which may help create new jobs by increasing local content requirements for investments in renewable energy.

The report also identifies the main drivers of Cleantech growth across the MENA region as: government policy, cost of the renewable energy, desire to reduce the use of fossil fuels, increased business efficiency and Job creation as a result of population growth and elevated rates of unemployment.

The report also sights broad opinion that Solar energy would be the leading Cleantech in the MENA region with Photovoltaic (PV) as the main solar technology for the MENA region followed by Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) by a lesser extent. The report sights in its survey that the lead of PV over CSP was justified mainly by the price per watt compared with the other technologies.

KACARE leading Saudi Arabia's push for Renewable Energy

In a recent conferece in Riyadh (9 May 2012). The Deputy President of the King Abdullah Center for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-CARE) announced that they plan to make a major shift in the Kingdom's energy mix.

In the recent years the Kingdom's domestic energy demand has been growing at a very fast rate. In 2011, Saudi burned 730,000 barrels of crude oil per day to cover its domestic needs and since crude is heavily subsidized domestically this represent a significant loss for Saudi from potential sale to export markets. A loss which will only increase with increasing energy demand.

When considering this perspective, Renewable Energy makes very good economic sense for the Kingdom, as the high cost of Renewable Energies could be off-set against higher real market value of domestic subsidized fuel consumed.

KA-CARE mentioned that it aims to build 16 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) and 25 GW of concentrated solar power (CSP) by 2032. It sighted that CSP was more expensive than PV but favored CSP for it storage capabilities. It was also mentioned that Geothemal and waste-to-energy could amount to 4 GW.

These plans have been submitted to the KA-CARE Board of Directors for approval which includes representatives from the highest authorities in the country. If indeed approved this would be a very exciting developing for Saudi Arabia.