Feasibility of Renewable Energy Based

Distributed Generation in Yanbu, KSA

Alaa Alaidroos

Moncef Krarti, PhD, PE, LEED®AP

University of Colorado at Boulder

Building Systems Program

Outline

• Electricity demand in Saudi Arabia

• Impact of electricity price subsidies

• Case study of residential community

• Available renewable energy resources

• Analysis of distribution generation systems

• Selected results

• Conclusions and summary

Energy Demand in Saudi Arabia

• Increase of electricity demand: 46,000 MW to 120,000 MW within 20 years.

• Over 1/4 of the oil production in Saudi Arabia is consumed by the country it self!

Effect of local energy consumption growth:

1. Affect future economy (jeopardize the ability of exporting oil)

2. Increase CO2 emissions

3. Indicate inefficient use of energy

Impacts of Electricity Prices Subsidies

• Average cost of electricity production is 0.10 $/kWh.

• Average cost of electricity for residential users is 0.03 $/kWh.

• Saudi Arabia is the second largest country subsidizing fuel and electricity prices.

• 70% of the oil consumption is subsidized leading

• 30% to electricity use is subsidized

• These subsidies result in cheap energy for users but are costing Saudi Arabia about $188 billions per year (?)

High Electricity Price Subsidies

Preventing RE/EE investments

Case Study Objectives

Investigate the feasibility of utilizing

hybrid renewable energy systems to

partially cover high electricity demand

of residential community and

supplement and/or replace the

traditional power plants

Environmental benefits by reducing

CO2 emissions

Economical benefits by lowering

electricity costs and reducing reliance

on fossil fuel

Case Study background

• Small residential community in Yanbu, an industrial city in Saudi Arabia.

• The residential community includes 200 homes

Energy Resources (Wind)

Wind speed profiles match the significant energy demand for space cooling

Monthly Hourly

Energy Resources (Solar)

• Annual solar radiation in Saudi Arabia is about 250 w/m2

• 105 trillion kilowatt hours a day, which is roughly the equivalent of 10 billion barrels of oil

Analysis of DG Systems

HOMER simulation

• PV system sizes: 500 and 1000 kW

• Number of wind turbine: 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 (150kW Nordex N27 turbines)

Selected Analysis Results

Renewable fraction vs COE

Wind energy provides higher renewable fraction than the PV system at the same cost of energy (COE) level

CO2 emission vs COE

Wind energy can reduce CO2 emissions dramatically compared to PV at the same cost of energy (COE) level

Selected Analysis Results

COE for PV is competitive with subsidized grid electricity rate when a rebate level of 80% or higher is applied to the PV initial costs

COE for wind energy at actual wind speed is slightly higher than the COE from the grid (subsidized electricity rate)

Wind speed vs COE PV cost vs Rebate level

Influence of Subsidies On RE Feasibility

• If subsidies for electricity prices are reduced, distributed generation using

renewable energy systems becomes economically feasible

Summary and Conclusions

• High energy demand growth in KSA is affecting the economy and

significantly increasing CO2 emissions

• Renewable energy can be economically feasible in KSA but high

subsidies (low electricity prices) are preventing investments in

renewable energy generation and efficiency improvements

• Wind energy provide higher renewable fraction and potential for

reduction of CO2 emissions than PV

• PV can be cost effective only if there would high rebate level and

support from the government (similar to the current level applied for

the cost of oil)

Hybrid Distributed Generation Systems in Rural

Alaska

Lindsay Willman

Moncef Krarti, PhD, PE, LEED-AP

Building Systems Program

University of Colorado

Boulder, Colorado

Photo: wind turbines in Unalakleet, Alaska

Over 150

isolated

electrical grids

Coal

Natural

Gas

Hydroelectric

and diesel

Diesel Wind

Majority of

rural areas

rely on diesel

Communities: Mountain Village,

Deering, and Ambler

• Stand-alone electrical grid

• Electricity and heating source: diesel

Community Population

Electricity

Generation

(kWh/yr)

Diesel Fuel

Use (gal/yr)

CO2

Emissions

(t/yr)

Mountain

Village 813 2,799,595 189,184 1,920

Deering 122 711,319 55,145 560

Ambler 258 1,249,161 89,892 912

Electricity and Diesel Fuel Prices

Community Diesel Fuel Price ($/gal)

Mountain Village $3.16

Deering $4.69

Ambler $3.75

Community Mountain Village Deering Ambler

Standard Electricity

Rate (¢/kWh) 50.62 77.37 53.80

PCE Subsidy (¢/kWh) 29.20 30.74 32.22

PCE Electricity Rate

(¢/kWh) 21.42 46.63 21.58

Electrical/Thermal Loads

Community

Average

Electric

Load (kW)

Average

Thermal

Load (kW)

Peak

Electric

Load (kW)

Peak

Thermal

Load (kW)

Mountain

Village 303 2,277 512 7,846

Deering 74 775 132 2,232

Ambler 139 1,212 285 4,439

Mountain

Village:

7.28 m/s

Deering:

5.22 m/s Ambler:

3.60 m/s

Community

Annual Average

Solar Radiation

(kWh/m2/day)

Mountain

Village 2.80

Deering 2.61

Ambler 2.58

Mountain Village Analysis Results

Optimal

System

Turbine

Capital Cost

($/kW)

Initial

Capital ($)

Total NPC

($)

COE

($/kWh)

Wind-

Diesel-

Battery

4,000 1,887,500 44,168,904 0.210

Wind-

Diesel-

Battery

6,000 2,082,500 44,776,100 0.223

Wind-

Diesel-

Battery

8,000 1,787,500 45,186,308 0.232

Diesel-

Battery

10,000-

15,000 247,500 45,315,064 0.235

Baseline and Hybrid System

Comparison

System

Electricity

Production

from Diesel

(kWh/yr)

Diesel

Fuel Use

(gal/yr)

CO2

Emissions

(t/yr)

Baseline 2,799,595 189,184 1,920

Hybrid 1,748,822 118,164 1,199

Savings 1,050,773 71,020 721

Sensitivity Analysis

Diesel-battery

system

Wind-diesel-

battery hybrid

system

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0

Lev

eliz

ed C

ost

of

En

ergy (

$/k

Wh

)

Percent Reduction in CO2 Emissions

Wind-diesel-battery hybrid system

COE: $0.23/kWh, REF: 0.5

Percent Reduction: 44.3%

Wind-PV-diesel hybrid system

COE: $0.381/kWh, REF: 0.46

Percent Reduction: 35.6%

Deering Analysis Results

Optimal

System

Turbine

Capital

Cost

($/kW)

Initial

Capital ($) Total NPC ($)

COE

($/kWh)

Wind-

Diesel-

Battery

4,000 513,750 20,786,188 0.288

Wind-

Diesel-

Battery

6,000 708,750 20,981,188 0.305

Diesel 8,000-

15,000 0 20,992,308 0.306

Ambler Analysis Results

Optimal

System

Initial

Capital ($) Total NPC ($)

COE

($/kWh)

Diesel with

heat recovery 0 28,494,520 0.302

Cost of energy for hybrid wind-diesel systems:

$0.311/kWh - $0.876/kWh

Conclusions

• Wind and solar DG systems can

lower the COE for remote

Alaskan communities

• COE highly dependent on wind

turbine capital cost, diesel fuel

price, and site characteristics

• Detailed site analyses needed

to accurately determine capital

costs

Photo: wind

turbines in

Kodiak,

Alaska