The water needs of the inhabitants of Saudi Arabia are met by desalination powered by electricity generated from fossil fuel. Excessive burning of fossil fuels results in faster depletion and causes an adverse impact on the local environment. Reverse osmosis (RO) desalination based on a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) has emerged as a cleaner alternative. The primary objective of this review is to assess the current status of utilizing renewable energy for small and large-scale water desalination plants. An overview of the expansion of domestic and global desalination plant capacities is presented with the evaluation of Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy potential. Numerous studies on coupling various combinations of renewable energy sources to power desalination processes are reviewed. A comprehensive analysis of the trends and technical developments of PV-RO, Wind-RO, and hybrid PV-Wind-RO for a wide range of capacities over the past three decades is provided. Designing and modeling HRES-RO desalination systems using different combinations of renewable energy sources are thoroughly analyzed and the technical aspects of their performance are presented. The application of a range of optimization and sizing software tools available for conducting pre-feasibility analysis and the comparison of the available software tools for HRES-RO desalination are also presented. The study also demonstrated that the replacement of fossil fuel with renewable energy for desalination will significantly decrease greenhouse gas emissions. The review also highlights the effect of solar and wind profiles on the economics of desalination powered by renewables. The economic analysis indicates a significant decrease in the cost of water production by hybrid PV-wind-RO systems, implying good prospects for the technology in the near future. Finally, the study provides a flowchart depicting the steps involved in installing a hybrid PV-wind-RO system in KSA.

A hybrid renewable energy system as a potential energy source for water desalination using reverse osmosis: A review

Wind power characteristics of seven data collection sites in Jubail, Saudi Arabia using Weibull parameters

Among renewable sources of energy, wind is the most widely used resource due to its commercial acceptance, low cost and ease of operation and maintenance, relatively much less time for its realization from concept till operation, creation of new jobs, and least adverse effect on the environment. The fast technological development in the wind industry and availability of multi megawatt sized horizontal axis wind turbines has further led the promotion of wind power utilization globally. It is a well-known fact that the wind speed increases with height and hence the energy output. However, one cannot go above a certain height due to structural and other issues. Hence other attempts need to be made to increase the efficiency of the wind turbines, maintaining the hub heights to acceptable and controllable limits. The efficiency of the wind turbines or the energy output can be increased by reducing the cut-in-speed and/or the rated-speed by modifying and redesigning the blades. The problem is tackled by identifying the optimization parameters such as annual energy yield, power coefficient, energy cost, blade mass, and blade design constraints such as physical, geometric, and aerodynamic. The present paper provides an overview of the commonly used models, techniques, tools and experimental approaches applied to increase the efficiency of the wind turbines. In the present review work, particular emphasis is made on approaches used to design wind turbine blades both experimental and numerical, methodologies used to study the performance of wind turbines both experimentally and analytically, active and passive techniques used to enhance the power output from wind turbines, reduction in cut-in-speed for improved wind turbine performance, and lastly the research and development work related to new and efficient materials for the wind turbines.

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blade Design Methodologies for Efficiency Enhancement—A Review

This paper presents the wind characteristics and resource assessment of the largest industrial base in the Middle East (Jubail industrial city) using measured hourly mean wind speed data at 10, 50 and 90 m above ground level (AGL) from 2008 to 2012 At respective heights, the mean wind speeds were found to be 334, 479 and 535 m/s At 50 and 90 m AGL, the availability of wind speed above 35 m/s was more than 75% The prevailing wind direction was from the north-west The local wind shear exponent calculated using measured wind speed values at three heights was found to be 0217 The mean wind power density values at measurement heights were 5092, 11603 and 16846 W/m 2 respectively The comparison of energy output from five commercially selected wind turbines of rated power ranging from 18–33 MW showed that the most efficient wind turbine is 30 MW rated power The annual energy production from this turbine was estimated to be 6285 MWh with a plant capacity factor of 25%

Wind speed and power characteristics for Jubail industrial city, Saudi Arabia

Techno - Economic assessment of wind power potential of Hawke's Bay using Weibull parameter: A review

The study utilized wind speed measurements made at three heights and the Weibull parameters to study the wind speed characteristics and assess the wind power potential of seven sites in Saudi Arabia. Weibull shape and scale parameters were estimated using maximum likelihood method. These parameters were found to fit the actual wind frequency distributions with acceptable coefficient of determination (>0.95) for all the sites considered in this study. The annual mean wind speed varied between 4.30 m/ sa nd 5.9 m/ sa t 40 m above ground level corresponding to Gassim and Dhulom data collection stations. The local wind shear exponent calculated using measured wind speed values at 20, 30, and 40 m and the power law were established for future use and were found to vary from 0.06 to 0.34 corresponding to Gassim and Yanbo, respectively. The Weibull shape and scale parameters increased more at 30 m compared to at 40 m with increase in height from 20 to 30 m and 30 to 40 m. No regular monthly trends could be detected whereas monthly mean wind speed, shape, and scale parameters, most probable wind speed, and maximum energy carrying wind speed was concerned. The most windy sites (Dhulom, Arar, Juaymah, Rawdat Ben-Habbas, and Dhahran) were suggested for wind power development in Saudi Arabia.

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A.M. Mahbub Alam

Papers

Wind Speed Characteristics and Resource Assessment Using Weibull Parameters