Type Of Energy..By:Dr. Fhaid Al-Dousari
Type Of Energy
Name
Dr. Fhaid Al-Dousari
Introduction and Definition of Renewable Energy
Burning fossil fuels produces a lot of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which envelop the planet and trap solar energy. Furthermore, in the
upcoming years, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be drastically decreased in order to prevent the worst effects of climate change. People begin to invest as a result in an affordable, scalable, dependable, safe, as well as sustainable alternate energy source, also known as renewable energy (Garba & Abdulrahman, 2024). A renewable energy resource is by principle nondepletable having little or no emissions of greenhouse gases or air pollutants into the environment, most of the abundant renewable energy sources are able to replenish themselves. Additionally, renewable energy is available everywhere and hasn’t yet reached its full potential (Garba & Abdulrahman, 2024).
The statement of problem
There are worries that the world’s reserves of petroleum and other resources may run out soon due to the sharp rise in energy usage, especially in the last few decades. There is visible environmental destruction as a result of the widespread use of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels provide almost 90% of the energy generated worldwide (Das & Pal, 2022). Enormous modern economies cannot support the usage of fossil fuels, and doing so has an environmental cost. However, due to its environmental friendliness, renewable energy is regarded as the best energy source. In order to meet the energy needs of subsequent generations, renewable energy sources must be sustainable in order to fight climate change and save the environment. From this point, this research will aim to cover various points around renewable energy like its definitions, importance, types and applications particularly in Kuwait.
Research questions
• What is the definition of renewable energy?
What are the types of renewable energy?
• What are the benefits of renewable energy?
• What are the applications of renewable energy in Kuwait?
• What are the major renewable energy projects in Kuwait?
Literature Review
Overview and Definition of renewable energy
The negative environmental effect of energy, specifically the burning of fossil fuels that results in air pollution as well as greenhouse gas emissions, is one of the most difficult and important problems that environmental sustainability specialists must solve in the course of their work. The process of obtaining energy from fossil fuels, such as coal, gas, as well as oil, is called combustion. Energy produced from renewable sources, including solar, wind, hydroelectric power, biomass, and geothermal energy, is an alternate to energy sourced from fossil fuels as well as has little to no emissions (Abdallah, 2023).
Renewable energy comes from renewable sources including sunshine, wind, water, biomass, tides, as well as geothermal heat that can be regenerated in a short amount of time. Considering the exception of biomass power generation, which requires combustion, they typically do not directly create pollution or greenhouse gases throughout the generation process. As a result, renewable energy sources including wind, solar, and hydroelectricity are recognized. Green energy is defined as energy that is clean and renewable. The largest renewable energy source used in the US to generate electricity right now is hydropower. The procedure involves water flowing through a turbine that is connected to the generator. The water often comes from a man-made dam or waterfall. A wind turbine, propelled by wind currents, generates electricity. Sunlight is converted into power using photovoltaic systems and solar energy. Building and running the machinery needed to
produce renewable energy does require energy (Abdallah, 2023).
Types of renewable energy
Biomass
Biomass is a renewable energy source that consists of leftover food, garden trash, forest waste, agricultural leftovers, municipal solid waste, and agricultural waste. The most common kinds of biomass utilized to produce energy are plants like the previously stated soy and corn. The sun is the primary source of energy in biomass, as plants use photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide as well as water into nutrients (carbohydrates). The energy of these organisms can be transformed into useful energy both directly and
indirectly. Biomass can be burnt immediately to provide heat, converted directly into electricity, or converted directly into biofuel (indirect) (Garba & Abdulrahman, 2024).
Hydroelectric Energy
Hydropower accounts for over 70% of all renewable energy worldwide. Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) is one of the two kinds of hydroelectric systems. It saves energy by pushing water to higher ground during times of low demand and delivering it to generate electricity during times of peak demand. PSH is essential for grid stability, particularly as intermittent renewable energy sources like solar and wind are increasingly integrated into the system. The second sort of hydropower is called “run-of-river,” and it makes use of rivers’ natural flow without a lot of storage. When compared to conventional dam-based systems, it does less damage to ecosystems (Lu et al., 2022)
When opposed to fossil fuel-based systems, hydroelectric systems are more often economically viable and offer long-term energy solutions with reduced operating costs (Lu et al., 2022).
Wind Energy
According to Darwish and Al-Dabbagh (2020), wind energy is now among the most cost-effective enormous scale renewable energy supply. It includes harnessing the wind’s natural propensity to blow in order to produce power. Wind turbines gather wind energy in the area where their blades sweep.
Spinning blades power a generator that produces electricity to be exported to the grid (Darwish & Al-Dabbagh, 2020). The field’s technological developments have led to the development of larger, more efficient wind turbines that use advanced technologies. Since technology is improving and wind farms have become more and more adaptable, rotor diameters and hub heights must generate the identical amount of energy in order to capture more energy per turbine (Garba & Abdulrahman, 2024).
Geothermal Energy
Geothermal energy is a form of energy conversion that produces heat energy from the Earth’s interior for a variety of purposes, including heating houses and producing electricity. The heat from the earth’s interior causes a variety of natural phenomena to occur on its surface, including mud pots, fumaroles, hot springs, as well as lava flows (Salazar et al., 2017). The primary sources of heat are friction generated at the margins of plates on the continents and the radioactive decomposition of uranium, thorium, and potassium in the Earth’s crust and mantle (Salazar et al., 2017)
Solar Energy
Numerous techniques are used to transform sunlight into energy that buildings can use. The most popular solar technologies for homes and businesses are solar water heating, solar photovoltaics for energy, and passive solar architecture for space heating and cooling. Businesses and
industries may save expenses, boost production, and diversify their energy sources with the use of solar technology. Utilities and energy companies employ solar photovoltaic and concentrated solar energy technologies to create electricity on a big scale to power cities and small towns (Garba & Abdulrahman, 2024).)
Benefits of Renewable Energy
1- Prevention of climate change
When compared to fossil fuels, electricity produced by renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydroelectric power has far smaller carbon footprints. Without include hydroelectric power, research shows that installing significant amounts of renewable energy capacity-such as 104.9 GW of RES-can cut greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 16%. Achieving net-zero emissions is crucial for meeting the climate agreements’ key goal of decarbonization (Candra et al., 2023).
Switching to renewable energy brings immediate health benefits in addition to mitigating climate change. The incidence of respiratory and cardiovascular ailments can be lowered by renewable energy sources by lowering air pollution brought on by the burning of fossil fuels. Policies that support active transportation, such as walking and cycling, can also reduce emissions while amplifying the health advantages (Candra et al., 2023).
Achieving sustainability
Since renewable energy solves both environmental and economic issues, it is essential for attaining sustainability. Studies reveal that augmenting the utilization of sustainable energy has a favorable effect on economic expansion, specifically in middle-income nations (MICs). The production of renewable energy boosts the growth of a green economy and improves macroeconomic indices, according to a study that used structural vector auto-regression (SVAR). Compared to high-income countries (HICs), this effect is more noticeable in middle-income countries (MICs), indicating that renewable energy can act as an accelerator for sustainable development in areas with rising economies (Candra et al., 2023).
There are significant environmental advantages to using renewable energy. Carbon emissions can be considerably decreased by switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. For example, policies promoting energy
efficiency and renewable energy sources might cut carbon emissions by as much as 90%, according to estimates from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). This modification improves public health and air quality while simultaneously slowing down climate change. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the interaction between environmental taxes and the uptake of renewable energy lowers ecological footprints. Environmental taxes coupled with renewable energy projects typically result in a greater reduction of the countries’ ecological footprint, especially in higher pollution countries (Shayanmehr et al., 2023).
Applications of renewable energy in kuwait
Kuwait is beginning to understand how crucial renewable energy is to diversifying its energy sources and cutting carbon emissions. The nation has established high standards for adding renewable energy to its mix of energy sources, with a primary emphasis on solar and wind power.
In solar energy applications:
Photovoltaic (PV) Systems
Kuwait is installing solar PV systems to take use of its plentiful sun resources. Both commercial and residential structures are incorporating these systems as a sustainable way to address the rising demand for electrical power, which is rising by about 6% a year. CSP technology is being investigated for improved oil recovery procedures in addition to power generation. The oil industry in Kuwait may greatly increase energy efficiency with this dual use (Altaneeb, 2019).
Water Desalination
Solar energy is being used to power desalination plants since Kuwait depends on this process to produce potable water. This application is critical because it lessens the energy footprint associated with producing water, which is necessary for the water security of the nation (Altaneeb, 2019).
Solar Thermal Collectors
These are employed in the home to heat water and can further improve energy utilization in the commercial and residential sectors by providing absorption cooled to air conditioning systems (Altaneeb, 2019).
In wind energy applications:
Wind Farms
Kuwait has discovered areas that are conducive to the development of wind energy, especially in the northwest where wind speeds are good. Under comparable circumstances, wind farms have the ability to produce more electricity than solar PV systems, making them a feasible addition to the
energy mix (Altaneeb, 2019). Offshore Wind Potential
The Arabian Gulf’s coastline regions offer potential for offshore wind energy, which could supplement onshore wind farms and broaden Kuwait’s portfolio of renewable energy sources (Altaneeb, 2019).
Major Renewable Energy Projects in Kuwait
1- Al-Shagaya Renewable Energy Park
Capacity: A large-scale project called the Al-Shagaya Renewable Energy Park seeks to produce 70 MW of electricity by combining solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies (Alnassar & Alfozan, 2024).
Objective: This project demonstrates Kuwait’s dedication to sustainable energy solutions in a region rich in fossil fuels. Kuwait’s larger goal is to attain 15% of its power generation from renewable sources before 2030 (Alnassar & Alfozan, 2024).
Through testing solutions to the problems these various technologies face in the harsh Kuwaiti desert, the project assesses the requirements of concentrated solar power (CSP), photovoltaic (PV), and wind energy technologies. In order to assist KISR with project execution, contracting, and supervision of the Design Build Operate (DBO) contractors through commissioning and the first two years of operation, WorleyParsons was
appointed as the Owner’s Engineer and Project Management Consultant in 2014. After more than a year of operation, the project has shown that two of the technologies PV and Wind-have outperformed generation forecasts. As of right now, the CSP plant is nearing commissioning (Alnassar & Alfozan, 2024).
2- Abdaliyah Complex Project. In Al-Abdaliya, Kuwait intends to build a solar plant utilizing a 60 MWe
parabolic trough collector. This will be a component of Kuwait’s first-ever 280 MWe Integrated Solar Combined Cycle (ISCC) system, which will be the largest of its kind. Research revealed that the Abdaliya ISCC power plant might have an efficiency of about 66%, which is 20-100% greater than Kuwait’s present conventional power plants. The plant’s output power, which can reach 290 MWe at a solar heat input of 75 GJ/s, is likewise strongly dependent on solar heat input. When thermal energy storage is added, annual fuel savings and emissions are reduced more than when the solar fraction is increased from 0.2 (Binamer, 2019).
Conclusion
In summary, switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy is not only a wise strategic decision, but also a necessary step toward a resilient and sustainable future. The urgency with which climate change and environmental degradation must be addressed highlights the need of making investments in renewable energy sources, including geothermal, biomass, hydropower, solar, and wind power. These energy sources not only provide a low-emission, greener alternative, but they also have enormous unrealized potential for meeting existing and future energy needs. Kuwait’s integration of renewable energy projects, such as the Abdaliyah Complex and Al-Shagaya Renewable Energy Park, demonstrates a commitment to attaining long-term energy sustainability and lowering reliance on fossil fuels. It is essential to keep developing technology and regulations as the globe moves closer to renewable energy sources since doing so will eventually ensure a better planet for coming generations.
References
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