Abstract
This work presents a pathway for Saudi Arabia to transition from the 2015 power structure to a 100% renewable energy-based system by 2050 and investigates the benefits of integrating the power sector with the growing desalination sector. Saudi Arabia can achieve 100% renewable energy power system by 2040 while meeting increasing water demand through seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) and multiple effect distillation (MED) desalination plants. The dominating renewable energy sources are PV single-axis tracking and wind power plants with 243 GW and 83 GW, respectively. The levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) of the 2040 system is 49 €/MWh and decreases to 41 €/MWh by 2050. Corresponding levelised cost of water (LCOW) is found to be 0.8 €/m3 and 0.6 €/m3. PV single-axis tracking dominates the power sector. By 2050 solar PV accounts for 79% of total electricity generation. Battery storage accounts for 41% of total electricity demand. In the integrated scenario, due to flexibility provided by SWRO plants, there is a reduced demand for battery storage and power-to-gas (PtG) plants as well as a reduction in curtailment. Thus, the annual levelised costs of the integrated scenario is found to be 1–3% less than the non-integrated scenario.
Highlights
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula and is the13th largest in the world
The optimal mix of renewable power systems to replace the phased out fossil power systems are found and the resulting system’s levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) is found for every time step
The results show how the integration of seawater desalination with power and gas sectors contribute to the least cost transition path to achieving a 100% renewable energy sector in Saudi Arabia before the proposed year 2050
Summary
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula and is the13th largest in the world. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula and is the. As of 2015, the Kingdom had a population of approximately 31,540,000—the highest among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries [1,2]. Located between the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia is one of the largest arid countries without any permanent rivers or lakes. In spite of the water scarcity, Saudi Arabia has the third highest water consumption per capita at 250 L/(capita·d) [3]. This is only behind the United States and Canada
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