Middle East energy consumption and potential renewable sources: An overview

Abstract

Despite having enormous fossil fuel resources, the Middle East is susceptible to drops in oil and gas prices, which hurts the country budget. Even while the Middle Eastern countries that import energy enjoy cheaper energy costs, several of these nations have experienced war, social disorder, and political upheaval, which has made the position of the energy of the region very difficult. Water shortages are another significant issue in the Middle East. This region might be classified as a desert. The management of water resources is becoming more and more important in the area as water shortages become a serious problem. To address the current energy crisis and strengthen energy security, the Middle Eastern governments have established commendable renewable energy projects over the years. However, there is still a sizable gap between the potential of renewable energy and production that can be exploited due to rising demand and population growth. This research reported a description of the energy consumption of the Middle East and the viability of the potential renewable energy. The predicted technical result shows that the Middle East region is rich in potential solar and wind, which is the most probable option to satisfy future energy demands via a regional transmission system owing to the severe intermittent nature of renewable energy resources. In the end, it has been shown that, especially in the Middle East, which depends heavily on fossil fuels for its gross domestic product, several policy options need to be studied and put into place for renewable energy goals to be met.