TITLE:
Prime Energy Challenges for Operating Power Plants in the GCC
AUTHORS:
Mohamed Darwish, Rabi Mohtar
KEYWORDS:
Gulf Co-Operation Council (GCC); Electric Power; Natural Gas; Crude Oil; Renewable Energy; Gas Turbine Combined Cycle; Integrated Solar Combined Cycle; Oil and Natural Gas Reserves
JOURNAL NAME:
Energy and Power Engineering,
Vol.5 No.1,
January
31,
2013
ABSTRACT:
There is a false notion of existing available, abundant, and long
lasting fuel energy in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries; with
continual income return from its exports. This is not true as the
sustainability of this income is questionable. Energy problems started to
appear, and can be intensified in coming years due to continuous growth of
energy demands and consumptions. The demands already consume all produced
Natural Gas (NG) in all GCC, except Qatar; and the NG is the needed
fuel for Electric Power (EP) production. These countries have to import NG to
run their EP plants. Fuel oil production can be locally consumed within two to
three decades if the current rate of consumed energy prevails. The returns from
selling the oil and natural gas are the main income to most of the GCC. While
NG and oil can be used in EP plants, NG is cheaper, cleaner, and has less
negative effects on the environment than fuel oil. Moreover, oil has much
better usage than being burned in steam generators of steam power plants or
combustion chambers of gas turbines. Introducing renewable energy or nuclear
energy may be a necessity for the GCC to keep the flow of their main income
from exporting oil. This paper reviews the GCC productions and consumptions of
the prime energy (fuel oil and NG) and their role in electric power production.
The paper shows that, NG should be the only fossil fuel used to run the power
plants in the GCC. It also shows that the all GCC except Qatar, have to
import NG. They should diversify the prime energy used in power plants; and
consider alternative energy such as nuclear and renewable energy, (solar and
wind) energy.