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.

 

 

DESERTEC signs MOU with Morocco

DESERTEC which is a non-profit foundation for the promotion of renewable energy development in areas of abundant renewable energy, has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Moroccan government Agency for the Development of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficency (ADEREE) to consolidate the partnership between the two enetities. DESERTEC will be supporting ADEREE in its strategy and in the exchange of know-how, expertise and policy development. The MOU was signed in October 2012.


Morocco, which imports most of its energy supply, plans to supply 42% of its energy requirments from renewable energy and reduce overall demand by 12% by 2020.

Masdar partners in worlds largest off-shore wind Farm in the UK

Masdar has entered into a consortium partnership with Dong Energy and E.ON with ownership stakes of (20%, 50% & 30% respectively). Together the consortium developed the London Array Offshore Wind Farm which has begun generating power.

The project is located in the Thames Estuary, and when completed will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm.

Phase I: 175 wind turbines with a combined capacity of 630 MW, 151 turbines have been installed with building on track for completion of Phase I by the end of 2012.

Phase II: Still not approved, but is planed to add enough capacity to bring total output to 870 MW. 

Masdar is Abu Dhabi's entity leading the development of renewable energy, and the project is another example of Masdar's extension for the development of Renewable Energy beyond the GCC. In November last year Masdar had also signed an agreement with the Scottish Government for coordination in Renewable Energy research.

It is very positive to see the continued coordination of the GCC countries with the rest of the world in Renewable Energy development.

First Solar to Build 13 MW Solar PV plan in Dubai

On 17th of October 2012, First Solar announced it has been selected by the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) to construct a 13 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Seih Al Dahal, about 31 miles south of Dubai. First Solar will provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services, as well as its advanced thin-film PV modules.

The PV power plant is the first phase of the landmark "Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park", a project that is expected to eventually cover 18.5 square miles and produce 1,000 MW of energy using both PV and solar thermal technology by 2030.

Here is a short video about the Solar Park (http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150466591271059)

Saudi investing abroad in Solar Energy

Although, this blog is meant to focus on the Middle East Renewable Energy developments, there is a recent Solar project from Morocco that has some relevance.

It was recently announced that Morocco’s solar energy agency has selected a consortium led by Saudi International Company for Water and Power (ACWA) to build a 160-megawatt concentrated solar power plant in the south of the country.

The Morocco state Solar Energy Agency (Masen), made the announcement at a press conference. ACWA has teamed up with Spanish engineering firm Aries IS and TSK EE for the design, finance, construction, operation and maintenance of the plant near the southern city of Ouarzazate.

In 2009, Morocco announced a $9 billion project to build five solar plants to harness the sun’s rays and produce 2,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020.

It is very interesting to see a Saudi developer investing in Solar projects outside of Saudi Arabia and the GCC. This signals the higher focus and attention Solar energy is getting in the GCC countries and we can see the local developers gearing up to capitalize on the rise of Solar energy.

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.

Clean Energy Growing in the Middle East

I found an interesting article online at (Link). The article confirms as I mentioned in a previous blog that Saudi Arabia is planning to secure 41 GW of Solar Energy by 2032. Highlighting that otherwise continued reliance on Oil for Power generation will limit the Kingdom’s Oil export capacity.

Also, noteworthy in the article was Iran’s plans to develop a 5MW pilot plant for geothermal energy and its intention to add 12,000 MW of renewable energy to its power capacity.

The article also mentions that Qatar Solar Technologies plans to build a $1 billion silicon plant in Qatar to supply the material to manufactures of solar panels. In addition, Qatar Electricity and Water Co. wants to get 10 percent of its electricity from solar by 2018.

The article also mentions Petra Solar and First Solar as companies targeting the Middle Eastern Renewable market. It will be interesting to see who the foreign solar companies will choose to strike their strategic partnerships in the region.