Operation of an all-solar power system in Saudi Arabia
Introduction
Since solar resources are outstanding across the Arabian Peninsula [1], [2], [3], [4], it is reasonable to study the possibility of supplying Saudi Arabia electricity needs using solely solar resources and storage. Moreover, Saudi authorities are pursuing the transformation of the current electricity generation mix into a renewable dominated one [5]. It is important to note that the analyses carried out for Saudi Arabia are easily extrapolated to world regions of high and stable solar irradiation, such as northern Africa, southwestern USA, western China, northern Mexico, western and central Australia, and northern Chile.
Specifically, this paper considers the operation of an all-solar electric energy system in Saudi Arabia. That is, to supply the whole electric demand of Saudi Arabia using solely solar resources and battery energy storage systems (BESS). We assume that sufficient solar units and storage facilities are available throughout this system. Long-term planning models, beyond the scope of this paper, can be used to derive the solar/storage facilities needed. Specifically, we use the generation and transmission expansion planning model described in [6]. This is a green-field stochastic planning model that identifies the best generation and transmission capacity for a given target year. In addition to the future demand, the data required by this model include (i) all possible locations for solar plants of different technologies across the country and (ii) all available corridors for transmission expansion. Since the target year we analyze is 2015, we do not consider expanding the transmission network, and use this model to optimally replace the current thermal generation mix by solar plants and BESSs. The deterministic demand to be supplied is that of the year 2015.
We analyze the operation of the Saudi Arabia power system during one whole year using realistic data from 2015. These data pertain to the transmission system, the demand throughout the country, and solar generation (photovoltaic (PV) and/or concentrated solar power (CSP)) at locations identified by the generation expansion planning model [6] briefly described above. BESSs is used to cover the hours with no solar resource and hours beyond the CSP thermal storage capacity. We analyze three cases in which the demand is supplied:
- •
using CSP and BESSs,
- •
using PV and BESSs, and
- •
using PV, CSP and BESSs.
We compare these three cases from the viewpoint of the daily operation.
A number of references regarding the operation of electric energy systems with high penetration of renewable power are available. References that are relevant to our work are described below. Reference [7] provide a multi-day stochastic operation model for power systems with CSP. Reference [8] analyzes the value of CSP for high renewable integration. It uses a case study based on the US southwest. Reference [9] explores the possibility of supplying large electrical demands in the US using renewable energy sources. Reference [10] analyzes the operation of CSP units in power systems with high renewable penetration and studies the benefits of these units. Reference [11] provide a methodology for the optimal operation of railway electric energy systems considering PV units, wind turbines, and storage systems. Reference [12] analyzes the benefits of using CSP and PV plants in the power system of Bangladesh. The result shows several advantages of CSP over PV. Reference [13] studies how to use storage to control the fluctuation of renewable energy. Reference [14] analyzes the performance of PV technology in Slovenia. Reference [15] discusses the key role that CSP technology would take in the Middle East due to high solar irradiation.
Additionally, reference [1] analyzes the possibility of integrating renewable energy in the Saudi power system. Reference [2] analyzes the relative properties of solar energy production for sites in Saudi Arabia. In [3], the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) describes a project to estimate the solar resource capability of Saudi Arabia. Reference [4] analyzes the benefit of solar power at the residential scale in Riyadh city. Reference [16] studies the performance of PV and CSP technologies in three different sites in Saudi Arabia. They conclude that CSP plant has better electricity generation performance. Reference [17] analyzes economically the integration of solar PV in the Saudi power system. Reference [18] studies solar radiation resources in Saudi Arabia and they concludes that PV technology would perform well at any location. Reference [19] presents an analysis of one-year solar data at 44 locations across Saudi Arabia. Overall, the study finds that coastal areas have a lower amount of global horizontal irradiance as compared to inland areas, and that the northern province of Tabuk is the most suitable region for solar PV plants.
Considering the above references, the contributions of this paper are threefold:
- 1.
Developing an operation model including CSP, PV and storage for the yearly operation of an all-solar power system.
- 2.
Analyzing all-solar operation outcomes in Saudi Arabian throughout one year.
- 3.
Comparing yearly operation outcomes considering (i) PV and BESS, (ii) CSP and BESS and (iii) PV, CSP and BESS.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the proposed operation model. Section 3 discusses an illustrative example. Section 4 provides and analyzes outcomes from a case study based on the Saudi Arabian power system. Finally, Section 5 provides conclusions.
Section snippets
Optimization model formulation
By efficiently using storage facilities, the proposed model addresses the need of minimizing operation cost while eliminating or minimizing unserved energy, and has the form:subject to:
Illustrative example
The simple example bellow illustrates the functioning of an all-solar system with a stable demand profile (the case of Saudi Arabia) for a given day.
The power system in this example has a load of 50 GW throughout the study horizon (similar to the summer peak demand of the Saudi Arabian system).
The daytime is assumed to be 10 h and the nighttime 14 h. This assumption is solely valid in this illustrative example. In the case study, we use the actual value of solar irradiation each hour of the
Case study
In this section we apply model (1)-(11) to the Saudi Arabian power system. We consider year 2015 because we have detailed and accurate data for that year. However, we note that the proposed methodology can be applied to a future year provided and accurate forecasts regarding the demand and the generation and transmission systems are available.
Conclusions
This paper reports studies pertaining to the operation of an all-solar power system in Saudi Arabia during 2015. The Saudi system exhibits a relatively flat demand of about 50 GW during the summer and of about 25 GW during the winter. The generation mix considered in this study consists of: (i) 12 CSP units (108.5 GW total) and 17 battery energy storage facilities (482.1 GWh total), (ii) 12 PV units (202.0 GW total) and 17 battery energy storage facilities (584.2 GWh total) and (iii) 8 CSP
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
References (29)
Performance of solar resources in Saudi Arabia
Renew Sustain Energy Rev
(2016)- et al.
Assessing residential solar rooftop potential in Saudi Arabia using nighttime satellite images: A study for the city of Riyadh
Energy Policy
(2020) - et al.
Analysis of the performance of photovoltaic systems in Slovenia
Sol Energy
(2019) - et al.
Prospects and problems of concentrating solar power technologies for power generation in the desert regions
Renew Sustain Energy Rev
(2016) - et al.
Design and comparative analysis of photovoltaic and parabolic trough based CSP plants
Sol Energy
(2019) - et al.
Assessment of solar radiation resources in Saudi Arabia
Sol Energy
(2015) - El-Nakla S, Yahya C, Peterson H, Ouda O, Ouda M. Renewable energy in Saudi Arabia: Current status, initiatives and...
- et al.
Assessment of solar radiation resources in Saudi Arabia
Renew Energy, Proc World Renew Energy Conf
(1996) - NEOM, [Online]. Available:...
- Alraddadi MH, Conejo AJ, Lima RM. Expansion planning for renewable integration in power system of regions with very...
Power system multi-day stochastic scheduling considering the uncertainty of CSP/wind plants
Proc IEEE Power Energy Soc Gen Meet
Operation of a high renewable penetrated power system with CSP plants: a look-ahead stochastic unit commitment model
IEEE Trans Power Syst
Cited by (7)
A new monitoring technique for fault detection and classification in PV systems based on rate of change of voltage-current trajectory
2021, International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy SystemsCitation Excerpt :Photovoltaic (PV) power resources are free-pollution resources of electrical power energy because they do not generate any exhausted contamination [1].
Evaluating properties of Arabian desert sands for use in solar thermal technologies
2021, Solar Energy Materials and Solar CellsCitation Excerpt :Saudi Arabia has a growing interest in generating electricity from solar technologies including 25 GW of CSP systems by 2030 [38]. Several studies have considered using CSP for power generation in Saudi Arabia [39], taking into account the particularities of different locations, including Jeddah [40], Riyadh [41–43], Dhahran [44], Neom [45], and AlKhobar [46,47]. However, few studies have investigated the use of sand as TES material and direct solar absorber and have mainly focused on Riyadh or fracking sands [15,42,48].
Progress in Concentrated Solar Power, Photovoltaics, and Integrated Power Plants Towards Expanding the Introduction of Renewable Energy in the Asia/Pacific Region
2023, Current Sustainable/Renewable Energy ReportsTechnical assessment of 10 MW solar thermal plant using nano-fluids and molten salts: a case study of Saudi Arabia
2022, Applied Nanoscience (Switzerland)