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July 9, 2021
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Is There Enough Sun To Power Dubai?
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This is a re-post from my LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/enough-sun-power-dubai-joe-y-battikh/
Earlier this month in Dubai, I was at the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Young Professionals in Energy (YPE) speaker series event, where one of the members presented Solar Power in Dubai. During the discussion I thought to myself, is there enough sun to power Dubai?
You would think with all the sun the UAE gets, the answer would be simple, but in fact it’s not and these are three key challenges that were raised during the discussion:
1) What to do when there is no sun at night? Generating electricity from solar energy through photovoltaic (PV) is simple. During the day the PV panels, placed on a rooftop of a building for example, convert sunlight to electricity. But when the sun is gone, there is no more energy (it’s another story for Concentrated Solar Power).
2) What to do with unused electricity? When the electricity generated by the solar panels is not being consumed, it needs to be stored in a battery or sent to the grid. Batteries are still expensive and inefficient. If not stored, the grid has to be ready to receive and redistribute the electricity to where it’s needed (this is what is called a smart grid).
3) How to deal with dust? Sandstorms are frequent in the region. A lot of dust is lifted in the air and ends up on the solar panels, which reduces their efficiency in producing electricity. Cleaning them regularly with water is a solution, but that adds up to the maintenance cost, without forgetting that water is scarce and precious in the region.
Despite these challenges, Dubai has put very aggressive targets when it comes to introducing clean energy. Its Integrated Energy Strategy 2030 aims to provide 7% of its energy from solar by 2020 and 25% by 2030. This is part of Dubai’s carbon footprint reduction measures that is aligned with the UAE’s 2021 national agenda for Sustainable Environment and Infrastructure that has different indicators, among them the ‘share of clean energy contribution’.
So there is a will to drive solar, diversify the energy source and walk away from fossil fuel to fight climate change, but there are still physical barriers that are challenging Dubai to become 100% powered by sun, even if the sun here is shining every day.
What other solutions have you seen that could overcome these challenges and contribute to clean energy?
Earlier this month in Dubai, I was at the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Young Professionals in Energy (YPE) speaker series event, where one of the members presented Solar Power in Dubai. During the discussion I thought to myself, is there enough sun to power Dubai?
You would think with all the sun the UAE gets, the answer would be simple, but in fact it’s not and these are three key challenges that were raised during the discussion:
1) What to do when there is no sun at night? Generating electricity from solar energy through photovoltaic (PV) is simple. During the day the PV panels, placed on a rooftop of a building for example, convert sunlight to electricity. But when the sun is gone, there is no more energy (it’s another story for Concentrated Solar Power).
2) What to do with unused electricity? When the electricity generated by the solar panels is not being consumed, it needs to be stored in a battery or sent to the grid. Batteries are still expensive and inefficient. If not stored, the grid has to be ready to receive and redistribute the electricity to where it’s needed (this is what is called a smart grid).
3) How to deal with dust? Sandstorms are frequent in the region. A lot of dust is lifted in the air and ends up on the solar panels, which reduces their efficiency in producing electricity. Cleaning them regularly with water is a solution, but that adds up to the maintenance cost, without forgetting that water is scarce and precious in the region.
Despite these challenges, Dubai has put very aggressive targets when it comes to introducing clean energy. Its Integrated Energy Strategy 2030 aims to provide 7% of its energy from solar by 2020 and 25% by 2030. This is part of Dubai’s carbon footprint reduction measures that is aligned with the UAE’s 2021 national agenda for Sustainable Environment and Infrastructure that has different indicators, among them the ‘share of clean energy contribution’.
So there is a will to drive solar, diversify the energy source and walk away from fossil fuel to fight climate change, but there are still physical barriers that are challenging Dubai to become 100% powered by sun, even if the sun here is shining every day.
What other solutions have you seen that could overcome these challenges and contribute to clean energy?
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