Water Treatment, Desalination Efficiency & Renewable Energy Integration

Hosni Ghedira, Director

Research Center for Renewable Energy Mapping and Assessment a Masdar Institute

ESCWA Expert Group Meeting

Beirut, Lebanon, 25-26 June 2019

Desalination Capacity in the GCC (m3/d)

© Lattemann and Hopner (2012)

LCOE of Power Generation Technologies (€/kWh)

GCC

(UAE and KSA)

Economic Comparison Between the Major Desalination Technologies

Harbing (Xiabing) Lou, 2016

RE Opportunities in the Water-Energy Nexus:

Renewable energy can boost water security by:• Improving affordability and safety of supply• Reduce water-intensity of power sector• Improve access to water in off-grid areas• Enhance reliability of water supply• Bridge the water gap in arid regions• Replace traditional water heating

The Water Use Cycle in the GCC and Energy Intensity

Desalination Pumping Usage Treatment

DesalinationPumping to Reservoir

Usage by Consumer

Sewage Pumping

Sewage Treatment

TSE Pumping

Water Challenges in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi

• Reliance on very energy intensive technologies (MSF and MED), consuming about 3.5 time energy

compared to RO technology

• Integration of power and water production (co-generation) leads to energetic inefficiencies

• Desalination plants are powered by natural gas: finite source of energy

• Desalination represents roughly 22% of the CO2 emissions of the Emirate

MASDAR’s Renewable Energy Water Desalination Program

The objective of this program is to develop and demonstrate advanced and innovative

seawater desalination technologies that:

MASDAR’s Renewable Energy Water Desalination Program

Source: Mohammad Abdelqader El Ramahi, Masdar Clean Energy, Abu Dhabi (UAE)

Renewable Energy Powered Desalination for the UAE and the GCC

Decentralized and Off-grid Desalination

The UAE is being steered towards a future beyond oil The UAE set the region’s first renewable energy targets, at a time when there was widespread doubt about its viability and value.

• The UAE has raised its ambitious Clean Energy Target to 27% by 2021• In 2016, the UAE broke two world records for PV prices:

• May 2016: DEWA received a bid of 2.99 US cents per kW/h • September 2016: ADWEA received a bid of 2.42 US cents per kW/h

• In 2017, the UAE broke two new world records for CSP prices:• June 2017: DEWA received a bid of 9.45 US cents per kW/h• September 2017: DEWA received a bid of 7.3 US cents per kW/h

Solar Energy in the UAE: Current Status and Future Prospects

Dubai Solar Park will be the largest single-site solar project in the world with a planned capacity of 5,000 MW by 2030: 25% of output Enough to power 800,000 homes. (75% by 2050)

Masdar has been advancing the UAE’s ambitions for renewables and sustainable technology development by addressing the whole innovation value chain, from education, research and development, investment, to commercialization.

13

PV Economic Potential in the UAE Installed System Cost

Dust Deposition & PV Performance

Arid and semi-arid regions are particularly vulnerable to the accumulation of dust on PV panels. Higher degradation in PV performance due to soiling in tropical regions with lower tilt angles.It is important to investigate the influence of soling on PV system performance to comprehend the losses inperformance.

Such an investigation would also facilitate feasibility studies of cleaning mechanisms and development ofappropriate cleaning frequency schedule.

CHIMRE simulates realistic values of the 12-hour and

24-hour accumulated dry and wet deposition fluxes (in

µg cm-2) of aerosols over the horizontal surfaces along

with the ambient dust concentrations and Aerosol

Optical Depths.

Daily accumulated dust deposition fluxes show large

variability and the values are in between in 0.1 and

100 µg cm-2 and values may exceed 100 µg cm-2 on

stormy days.

Lower soiling rates during calm period (winter/autumn)

and higher during dusty months (spring/summer).

H. Qasem et al. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications

(2014)

Dust Deposition – CHIMERE

High spatial

variability in the

deposited flux

Significant

change in the

accumulated dust

within a day

Forecasted 12-hour accumulated dust deposition

Dust Deposition – CHIMERE

Simulation of Dust Deposition Flux – Monthly means (2010)

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN

JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Forecasting the solar radiation

Development of Renewable Energy Management

System (REMS) tool for Saudi Arabia

Utility-Scale Solar Plants (UAE)

Masdar City: 10 MW PV

Operational since April 2009

100 MW Shams-1: The World’s largest

CSP plant

Operational since March 2013

World Bank data, 2018

Water: A bigger challenge for the Middle East

DesalData.com, 2018

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The universal growth of the desalination market

Economicallyviable

Environment-friendly

Socially acceptableTechnically

feasible

How Sustainable is Desalination?

Sustainable solution

Threats to Sustainable Desalination

Economic viability

• Cost: Capital (equipment, site development)

• Cost: energy

• Cost: maintenance

– Scaling &Fouling

– Degradation of membranes

– Corrosion of hardware

• Cost: Labor, consumables, etc

Threats to Sustainable Desalination

Environmental impacts

• Seawater intake• Brine discharge (salinity, chemicals, etc.)• Greenhouse gases (energy use)• Other air pollutants (energy use)• Land use and construction impacts• Other…

Environmental Challenges

Chl a derived from MODIS-Aqua Satellite: November 2011 in the Red Sea and December 2008 in the Arabian Sea.

Environmental Challenges

Chl a concentration for December 23 2008 using MODIS OC3 in the Arabian Gulf.

Case Study 1: Jebel Ali Plant (Dubai)DubaiSat-1 Images

Brine Discharge Locations

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Smart System for Real-time Solar Performance Assessment

& Environmental Monitoring: Marine & Coastal

For further reading…..

Desalination Sustainability: A Technical, Socioeconomic and Environmental Approach,Elsevier (2017)ISBN: 9780128097915

THANK YOU!

Dr. Hosni Ghedira

Director of UAE Research Center for Renewable Energy Mapping and Assessment

Masdar Institute

United Arab Emirates