Renewable energy issues and electricity production in Middle East compared with Iran

This paper analyses the renewable energy issues and electricity production in Middle East compared with Iran. Nevertheless, the use of renewable energy has started to be an interesting issue for people and also governments in Middle East, especially in Iran where all different types of renewable energy sources (RES) are available and also possible to implement for gaining required energy. There are many different kinds of renewable energy sources like geothermal, bio fuel, tidal and so on, but wind and solar energies are more available and accessible than other types in Middle Eastern countries. Nowadays, the rapidly increasing demand for electrical energy and the high restriction on pollution levels have led to an increasing interest in large-scale utilization of renewable energies across many countries in Middle East. This paper analyzes the electricity production in Middle East and also reviews different aspects of renewable energy issues in Iran.     

Evaluation of hydrogen production from harvesting wind energy at high altitudes in Iran by three extrapolating Weibull methods

One of the most appropriate ways for energy storage is producing hydrogen from renewable resources. Wind energy is recognized as one of the widely used renewable energy resources. This paper investigates the use of wind energy for producing hydrogen in Iran. To achieve this, the country is divided into five major regions: center, north, south, east and west. The performance of three large-scale commercial wind turbines, ranging from 1500 kW to 3000 kW at hub height of 80 m and four large-scale wind turbine ranging from 2000 kW to 4500 kW at hub height of 120 m are evaluated for producing hydrogen in 150 wind stations in Iran. All wind data were recorded based on 10-min time intervals for more than one year at different wind mast heights. For estimating Weibull parameters, the Standard Deviation Method (SDM), Empirical Method of Lysen (EML) and Power Density Method (PDM) are used. An extrapolation method is used to determine the shape and the scale parameters of the Weibull distribution at the high attitudes of 80 m and 120 m. Then, power law and surface roughness exponents, capacity factor, annual energy production and annual hydrogen production for the wind sites are determined. The results indicate that rated power is not the only determinative parameter and the highest hydrogen production is from the GW-109/2500 wind turbine at the hub height of 80 m and from E112/4500 at the hub height of 120 m. For better assessment, the amount of hydrogen production is depicted in Geographic Information Science (GIS) maps using power production of the seven wind turbine models. Next by analyzing these GIS maps, it is found that there are significant potentials in north, north-west, east and south of Iran for producing hydrogen from wind energy.     

Algae as a sustainable energy source for biofuel production in Iran: A case study

Algae can be converted directly into energy, such as biodiesel, bioethanol and biomethanol and therefore can be a source of renewable energy. There is a growing interest for biodiesel production from algae because of its higher yield non-edible oil production and its fast growth that does not compete for land with food production. About 50% of algae weight is oil that this lipid oil can be used to make biodiesel. Algae is capable of yielding 30 times more oil per acre than the crops currently used in biodiesel production. Processes for biodiesel production from algae-oil are similar to food and non-food crops derived biodiesel processes. Because of disadvantages of fossil fuels, renewable energy sources are getting importance for sustainable energy development and environmental protection. Among the renewable sources, Iran has high biofuel energy potential. The Iranian government is considerable attention to the utilization of renewable energy, especially biofuels. Iran has enough land in order to algae cultivation that does not compete with food production. A salt lake (Lake Orumieh) in Iran's West Azarbaijan province, Maharlu salt lake in Iran's Fars province, Qom salt lake in Iran's Qom province have given rise to a new species of algae for biofuel. Algae are frequent in the shallow-marine lime stones in Zagros Mountains in north of Fars province. Greenish blooms of algae can be seen in the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea, south and north of Iran respectively. This study presents a brief introduction to the resource, status and prospect of algae as a sustainable energy source for biodiesel production in Iran. The main advantages of using algae for biodiesel production in Iran are described.     

Geothermal resources in Iran: The sustainable future

Because of disadvantages of fossil fuels, renewable energy sources are getting importance for sustainable energy development and environmental protection. Among the renewable sources, Iran has geothermal energy potential. The Iranian government is considerable attention to the utilization of renewable energy, especially wind, solar and geothermal energies. Due to recent advancements in geothermal energy, many investors in the country have become interested in investing in this type of energy. Geothermal studies in Iran started in 1975 with a cooperative between the ministry of Energy of Iran and ENEL Company from Italy. Preliminary studies indicated potential for geothermal power generation in four areas in northern Iran (Khoy-Maku, Sabalan, Sahand and Damavand at Azarbaijan Gharbi, Ardebil, Azarbaijan Sharghi and Tehran provinces), respectively. Geothermal development in Iran has gained momentum in the last five years with increased exploration and industry growth in the country. Iran is developing a geothermal plant for power production. Iran government plans to build 2000 MW of renewable energy capacity over the next five years. Total projected use (geothermal capacity) has been estimated 100 MW at the end of 2010. Exploration drilling is currently in-progress for Meshkinshahr project in North-Western Iran. The Sabalan geothermal power plant is expected to produce 50 MW electric powers in 2011. The plants are planned by Iran Ministry of Energy and the Renewable Energy Organization of Iran (SUNA). This study presents a brief introduction to the resource, status and prospect of geothermal energy in Iran.     

The feasibility of manufacturing wind turbines in Iran

It is known that the supplies of fossil fuels are limited and their utilization as energy sources causes environmental degradation due to incomplete combustion when used as energy source, in addition to this as the world population increases the demand for energy sources increases, therefore the issue of a gradual replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy sources is of major consideration for most countries: Iran Bing located in Asian Middle East enjoys a great potential for producing some 6500 MW of electricity with wind energy. The feasibility of manufacturing wind turbines is investigated in this article.     

Transforming shortcomings into opportunities: Can market incentives solve Lebanon's energy crisis?

Over the past decades Lebanon's energy sector has been largely ignored and this has led to high economic and environmental costs. The sector is characterized by electricity poverty, an expanding and mainly unregulated transport sector and a lack of energy savings spanning through all sectors of the economy. Recently, the Government of Lebanon has committed to increase the share of renewable energy to 10% of the total energy supply by 2013 and to 12% by the year 2020; it also aims at reducing energy consumption by 6% by the year 2013. This paper aims at contributing to the formulation of a more comprehensive energy strategy for Lebanon by analyzing the recent changes in policy direction and by recommending legal, regulatory and policy measures in order to transform current shortcomings into opportunities allowing the country to become a regional ‘success story’ in the deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency.     

Feasibility study of offshore wind turbine installation in Iran compared with the world

Renewable energies have potential for supplying of relatively clean and mostly local energy. Wind energy generation is expected to increase in the near future and has experienced dramatic growth over the past decade in many countries. Offshore winds are generally stronger and more constant than onshore winds in many areas. The economic feasibility for utilization of offshore wind energy depends on the favorable wind conditions in the area. The present paper analyses offshore wind speed in global scale and also studies feasibility of introducing this technology for harnessing wind in Persian Gulf, Caspian Sea, Urmia Lake and Gulf of Oman. Wind speed data were collected from different sources. The ocean surface winds at a 10 m height from satellite passes as processed by NOAA/NESDIS, from near real-time data collected by NASA/JPL's Sea Winds Scatterometer aboard the QuikSCAT. Development of renewable energy is one of priority research goals in Iran. There are many installed wind turbines in suitable regions like Manjil and Binalood, but there has not been any offshore wind installation yet in Iran. It is suggested that policy makers to invest and pay more attentions toward harnessing renewable energy sources like offshore wind in Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman in southern parts of Iran.     

Technical–economical analysis of the Saveh biogas power plant

The resource limitation of fossil fuels and the problems arising from their combustion has led to widespread research on the accessibility of new and renewable energy resources. Solar, wind, thermal and hydro sources, and finally biogas are among these renewable energy resources. But what makes biogas distinct from other renewable energies is its importance in controlling and collecting organic waste material and at the same time producing fertilizer and water for use in agricultural irrigation. Unlike other forms of renewable energy, biogas neither has any geographical limitations and required technology for producing energy and nor is it complex or monopolistic. Considering the ever increasing amount of different types of organic waste materials (about 15 million tonnes) in Iran, working on the control of waste material and biogas production becomes inevitable.In this paper, biogas and the benefits from its production are discussed, as is the technical-economic analysis of the Saveh biogas power plant as a case study.     

Renewable energy utilization in Iran

At present, due to the adoption of stringent environmental laws and also because of the energy crisis, countries (especially industrial ones) are taking the development of renewable energies more seriously. Iran is one of the largest producers and exporters of petroleum and natural gas in the world. Because of this, development of renewable energies did not attract considerable attention during the past decades. The present research intends to study renewable energy utilization in Iran and provide readers with complete information on the development trend of renewable energies and the problems and limitations faced for their development. Other methods of electricity generation such as the use of nuclear energy also developed considerably in the past, but their features will not be discussed here because they are not considered renewable energies.     

Assessment of renewable energy reserves in Taiwan

Since Taiwan imports more than 99% of energy supply from foreign countries, energy security has always been the first priority for government to formulate energy policy. The development of renewable energy not only contributes to the independence of energy supply, but also achieves benefits of economic development and environmental protection. Based upon information available to public, the present paper reassesses reserves of various renewable energies in Taiwan. The assessment includes seven kinds of renewable energies, namely, solar energy, wind power, biomass energy, wave energy, tidal energy, geothermal energy and hydropower, which are all commercialized and matured in terms of current technologies. Other renewable energies, which have not proven as matured as the aforementioned ones, are only assessed preliminarily in this paper, such as second generation of biomass, deep geothermal energy, the Kuroshio power generation and ocean thermal energy conversion.According to the estimation of this paper, the reserve of wind energy, up to 29.9 kWh/d/p (i.e., kWh per day per person), is the largest one among seven kinds of renewable energies in Taiwan, followed by 24.27 kWh/d/p of solar energy, 4.55 kWh/d/p of biomass, 4.58 kWh/d/p of ocean energy, 0.67 kWh/d/p of geothermal energy and 16.79 kWh/d/p of hydropower. If regarding biomass as a primary energy, and assuming 40% being the average efficiency to convert primary energy into electricity, the total power of the seven kinds of renewable energy reserves is about 78.03 kWh/d/p, which is equal to 2.75 times of 28.35 kWh/d/p of national power generation in 2008. If the reserves of 54.93 kWh/d/p estimated from other four kinds of renewable energies that have not technically matured yet are also taken into account, it will result that the reserves of renewable energy in Taiwan can be quite abundant.Although the results of the assessment point out that Taiwan has abundant renewable energy resources, the four inherent shortcomings – low energy density, high cost of power generation, instability of power supply, and current cost of renewable energy being still higher than that of fossil energy – have to be overcome first, before renewable energy is actually formed as a main component in national energy mix. The measures executed by government to break through these barriers further include the upgrade of the technological level, the formulation of the necessary policies, and the work together from all levels for the overall promotion.     

Interactions between renewable energy policy and renewable energy industrial policy: A critical analysis of China's policy approach to renewable energies

This paper analyzes China's policy approach to renewable energies and assesses how effectively China has met the ideal of appropriate interactions between renewable energy policy and renewable energy industrial policy. First we briefly discuss the interactions between these two policies. Then we outline China's key renewable energy and renewable industrial policies and find that China's government has well recognized the need for this policy interaction. After that, we study the achievements and problems in China's wind and solar PV sector during 2005–2012 and argue that China's policy approach to renewable energies has placed priority first on developing a renewable energy manufacturing industry and only second on renewable energy itself, and it has not effectively met the ideal of appropriate interactions between renewable energy policy and renewable energy industrial policy. Lastly, we make an in-depth analysis of the three ideas underlying this policy approach, that is, the green development idea, the low-carbon leadership idea and indigenous innovation idea. We conclude that Chinas' policy approach to renewable energies needs to enhance the interactions between renewable energy policy and renewable energy industrial policy. The paper contributes to a deeper understanding of China's policy strategy toward renewable energies.     

Co-benefit analysis of incentives for energy generation and storage systems; a multi-stakeholder perspective

In this work, we are analyzing the advantages of energy incentives for all the stakeholders in an energy system. The stakeholders include the government, the energy hub operator, and the energy consumer. Two streams of energy incentives were compared in this work: incentives for renewable energy generation technologies and incentives for energy storage technologies. The first type aims increasing the share of renewable energies in the electricity system while the second type aims development of systems which use clean electricity to replace fossil fuels in other sectors of an energy system such as the transportation, residential and industrial sector. In this work, we are analyzing the advantages of energy incentives for all the stakeholders in an energy system. The stakeholders include the government, the energy hub operator, and the energy consumer. Two streams of energy incentives were compared in this work: incentives for renewable energy generation technologies and incentives for energy storage technologies. The first type aims to increase the share of renewable energies in the electricity system while the second type aims the development of systems which use clean electricity to replace fossil fuels in other sectors of an energy system such as the transportation, residential and industrial sector. The results of the analysis showed that replacing fossil fuel-based electricity generation with wind and solar power is a less expensive way for the energy consumer to reduce GHG emissions (60 and 92 CAD/ tonne CO_2e for wind and solar, respectively) compared to investing on energy storage technologies (225 and 317 CAD/ tonne CO_2e for Power-to-Gas and battery powered forklifts, respectively). However, considering the current Ontario's electricity mix, incentives for the Power-to-Gas and battery powered technologies are less expensive ways to reduce emissions compared to replacing the grid with wind and solar power technologies (1479 and 2418 CAD/ tonne CO_2e for wind and solar, respectively). Our analysis also shows that battery storage and hydrogen storage are complementary technologies for reducing GHG emissions in Ontario.     

Prospects of hydrogen production potential from renewable resources in Algeria

Hydrogen production from renewable energies is a key part in the energy transition to realize a sustainable energy economy for both developed and developing nations. For Algeria, successful energy transition toward a hydrogen economy will require the establishment of its potential. This study was conducted to estimate the potential for producing hydrogen from renewable resources in Algeria. The renewable energies considered are: solar photovoltaic and wind. To accomplish this objective, first, we analyzed renewable resource data both statistically and graphically using Geographical Information System (GIS), a computer-based information system utilized to create and visualize the spatial distribution of the geographic information. Then, the study will evaluate the availability of renewable electricity production potential from these key renewable resources. The potential for the hydrogen production, via the electrolysis process with wind and solar photovoltaic electricity, is described with maps showing it per unit area in each region. Finally, the results of the estimated hydrogen potential from both resources for each region are compared and significant conclusions are drawn.     

A critical review of Iran''s buyback contracts

Iran's oil and gas industry requires investments of US$ 15 billion in the short term and over US$70 billion in the medium term. Iran tries to interest international oil companies (IOC) in investing in Iran's oil and gas business by offering buyback contracts. Under a buyback contract an IOC invests and when production starts, the field is handed over to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) or one of its representatives. The IOC gets its costs and an agreed upon profit paid out of the oil and/or gas gross profits, assuming the field produces as agreed upon and the international energy prices are high enough. According to the Iranian government, the buyback contract contains sufficient incentives for an IOC to invest in Iran. The IOCs, however, disagree. They claim that they solely bare the risks in a buyback contract, whereas the Iranian counterpart receives all windfall profits. Furthermore, the IOCs claim that the utilisation of Iran's oil and gas reserves will be sub-optimal if they are not involved in optimising long-term recovery. In this paper, we investigate these claims and show that they are partly correct. Given Iran's need for investment capital, Iran might have to change its policy.     

Investigating the need of nuclear power plants for sustainable energy in Iran

Over the decades, the consumption of all types of energy such as electricity increased rapidly in Iran. Therefore, the government decided to redevelop its nuclear program to meet the rising electricity demand and decrease consumption of fossil fuels. In this paper, the effect of this policy in four major aspects of energy sustainability in the country, including energy price, environmental issues, energy demand and energy security have been verified. To investigate the relative cost of electricity generated in each alternative generator, the simple levelized electricity cost was selected as a method. The results show that electricity cost in fossil fuel power plants presumably will be cheaper than nuclear. Although the usage of nuclear reactor to generate power is capable of decreasing hazardous emissions into the environment, there are many other effective policies and technologies that can be implemented. Energy demand growth in the country is very high; neither nuclear nor fossil fuel cannot currently cope with the growth. So, the only solution is rationalizing energy demand by price amendment and encouraging energy efficiency. The major threats of energy security in Iran are high energy consumption growth and economic dependency on crude oil export. Though nuclear energy including its fuel cycle is Iran's assured right, constructing more nuclear power plants will not resolve the energy sustainability problems. In fact, it may be the catalyst for deterioration since it will divert capital and other finite resources from top priority and economic projects such as energy efficiency, high technology development and energy resources management.     

Overcoming problems in Turkey's renewable energy policy: How can EU contribute?

Fossil fuels cover most of the energy demand in the world, and this creates significant social, economic and environmental problems. Many countries have taken measures to increase the share of renewable energy sources (RES), especially in electricity generation, and the review of literature shows that the success of a country in RES diffusion depends on a comprehensive renewable energy policy which combines political commitment with stable and long-term support measures that stimulate technological innovation. As the largest economy in the world, EU has also taken steps to increase RES usage in electricity generation in member states. Similar to other developing countries, Turkey is learning lessons from EU experiences regarding RES policies, and Turkey is also reforming its legal framework in line with acquis communautaire as a candidate country. As a result, EU has a multiway impact on Turkey's renewable energy policy. An overview of Turkey's renewable energy policy showed that EU has significantly contributed to Turkey in shaping its renewable energy policy, and Turkey should increase cooperation with EU in order to utilize its renewable energy potential.     

Use of MCDM techniques for energy policy and decision‐making problems: A review

Energy consumption increases all over the world as a result of industrialization in recent years. In this context, it has become important to meet increasing energy demand. It is significant to find alternative energy sources because of limited nonrenewable energy sources such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas. At this point, renewable energy sources have an important role to meet energy requirement. As a result, decision and policy making for energy is completely critical issue for countries. Various technical, economic, environmental, and social criteria are used to solve energy policy and decision‐making problems such as evaluation of energy projects, selection among energy alternatives, power plant site selection, and determining energy policy. Multicriteria decision‐making (MCDM) methods are used as effective tools to help decision makers while solving energy problems. There are a large number of studies including articles, conference papers, and book chapters, which examine energy problems by using MCDM methods in the literature. Therefore, analyzing these studies according to different features such as publication year, MCDM method, document type, statistical analyses, country, and published journal can be beneficial for leading researchers who study in energy decision‐making field. In this study, published papers, which use traditional MCDM methods to handle energy problems, are examined systematically. By the way, it is aimed to lead to researchers regarding MCDM methods which are utilized in energy applications. It also conducted some statistical analyses to obtain trends between years and MCDM methods. Besides, recent developments in energy field are presented through this comprehensive literature review.     

Sustainability of energy production and use in Iran

The issue of oil and gas policies in Iran is rather complex. In the present investigation, it is aimed to formulate plans for increasing the capacity of the country's energy production. Analysis of energy consumption pattern over last decades is indicative of inefficient usage. The low energy prices in Iran do not reflect economic costs. Further distortions exist in the tariff structures of most energy sources and in their relative prices. It is recognized that price reform is a key policy element for promotion of energy conservation and fuel substitution with renewable energies. Mitigation policies in the energy sector are crucial to Iran's overall policies. Emission of greenhouse gases can be reduced from 752,156 to 560,791 Gg CO₂ equivalents in 2010 by implementing the policies proposed for the energy sub-sectors. Enhancing energy efficiency, including combined cycle power generation, has proved to be the most economic option for greenhouse gases reduction in energy sector. Iran's energy consumption pattern is unsustainable and consumption oriented.     

Parking the power: Strategies and physical limitations for bulk energy storage in supply–demand matching on a grid whose input power is provided by intermittent sources

It is shown that, in a sustainable energy future, energy for the electricity grid will probably be derived largely from the renewable sources of wind and solar radiation. Because both are intermittent, any infinite busbar grid supplying a metropolitan area must necessarily be buffered from these intermittencies by massive energy storage on the gigawatt-day level. It is then demonstrated that, under presently foreseeable scientific capabilities, only underground pumped hydro and advanced adiabatic compressed air energy storage appear capable of meeting anticipated technological and economic constraints. Neither has ever been constructed and tested; but even so it is predicted that underground pumped hydro ultimately will prove to be superior.     

Heat pumps and renewable energies

As a mean to mitigate global humanlinked environmental pollution and to achieve sustainability, renewable energies must become not just a part but THE primary energy source for the world. Heat pumps, as a process recirculating environmental heat back into useful heat production, fit the environmental requirements of this global policy. They are very useful tools to reduce the need of fossil fuels combustion in building as well in industrial sectors. As such they have a role to play in the renewable energy panel.The paper will emphasize this role and give last trends in their technology.