Renewable Energy, Vol. 14, Nos. 1-4, pp.

319-324, 1998
© 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
~Pergamon Printed in Great Britain
P l h S0960-1481 (98) 0 0 0 8 4 - 6 0960-1481/98 $19.00+0.00

Experimental Study of Using Renewable Energy

in the Rural Areas of Oman
Ahmed AI Malki, Mohamme AI Amri & Hamoud AI Jabri
Research Department, Ministry of Water Resources, P.O. Box 2575, PC 112, Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

This paper shows the Ministry of Water Resources efforts to exploit the Sultanate's renewable energy. Groundwater from
Heelat At" Rakah camp's well was found unfit for consumption due to high concentrations of fluoride and hydrogen sulphide
(H~S) gas. For the first time in Oman, solar power was used to run a reverse osmosis desalination plant to produce fresh
water for the camp and a wind turbine was installed to generate electricity in order to run the submersible pump in the
camp's well. © 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Oman enjoys a climate with many hours of continuous sunshine and consequently receives substantial
amounts of solar radiation which can be converted to solar energy. In addition, some parts of the
Sultanate experience high winds for long periods of time, which also has potential to be converted into
wind energy. Harnessing these renewable energy resources can be particularly useful in remote rural
areas which do not have the social amenity infrastructure enjoyed by the large towns and cities.

2. Objectives

The remote location of the camp, having been far removed from any electrical or piped water supply
enabled the Ministry to set up an experimental research station.

The main objectives of this research station

i) Providing domestic water supply to the staff of the Ministry of Water Resources in the Nejd area.

ii) Technical and economical assessment of the efficiency of the Solar and Wind power in the area.

iii) Training in solar and wind power technologies and its uses in the desalination of brackish
groundwater and the pumping of groundwater respectively.

iv) Study of the impacts of brackish groundwater desalination,

319
320 A. AL MALKI et al.

3. The Heelat Ar Rakah Camp

The Ministry of Water Resources established a camp at Heelat Ar Rakah as part of its programme to
investigate and assess the water resources of the Najd region. The camp lies about 70 kilometres north
of Thumrait on the main tarred highway connecting Muscat with Salalah.

Water for the camp was traditionally supplied by tanker from a well at Heelat Ar Rakah village, a short
distance away. With self sufficiency in mind, the Ministry decided to drill its own well at the camp.
This well was found to be un-potable due to the high concentrations of total dissolved solids, fluoride
and hydrogen sulphide gas.

Consequently a desalination plant was designed and built at the camp in 1995 to utilise this water and a
degasser tower installed to remove the hydrogen sulphide gas. This plant was operated by solar power
(using photovoltaic cells). A year later a wind powered electrical turbine (wind turbine) was installed
to run the submersible pump in the camp well.

4. Agriculture and Irrigation

Cultivation at the camp began in late 1995 with the planting of 47 date palms (comprising 4 different
species), 16 lemon trees and 70 ornamental trees. To protect these plants and the camp infrastructure
from the dust laden winds and storms that are common in this area, a further 1200 trees, suitable for
their wind break potential, were planted around the camp perimeter fence.

The irrigation system was designed with water conservation in mind. Consequently a drip irrigation
system was installed which substantially reduces evaporation and improves watering efficiency. The
plants were planted in zones according to the number of plant species. The design calculated that a
water demand of 7.9 m3/hr - 27.3 m3/hr would be required. This equates to a flow rate of between 2.2
and 7.6 1/sec at a minimum operating pressure of 200 Kpa (2 bar).

5. Desalination Plant

Some parts of the Najd region have high concentrations of fluoride and hydrogen sulphide contained in
the groundwater. The Heelat Ar Rakah camp well has fluoride concentrations which are 5 mg/1, much
higher than the Omani Drinking Water Standard for fluoride of 0.8 mg/l. To enable the camp residents
to imbibe this water without harm to their health, it was necessary to build a desalination plant and a
degasser tower.

5.1 The Desalination Plant Design

The desalination plant was designed on a principle of Reverse Osmosis (RO) to operate for 5 hours a
day (the full daylight hours) and produce lm3/hour of fresh water with 70% recovery. This equated
therefore to 5 m3 of fresh water being produced and 2.2m 3 rejected as brine, which was transferred to
an evaporation pond. The total dissolved solids (TDS) of the feed water was 1010 mg/1, after treatment
this was reduced to 34 mg/1. Untreated water is blended with the desalinated product water at a ratio of
0.136 : 1 to raise the TDS value to an acceptable drinking water level. This ratio also kept the fluoride
level below the 0.8 rag/1 standard.

The RO plant consists of a pre-feed water pump, 2 high pressure pumps, 12 membranes, a cartridge
filter and other accessories such as flow meters, pressure gauges, valves etc. Feed water enters the
degasser tower first in order to extract the H2S gas. This also drops the pH and this necessitates the
injection of hydrochloric acid at an optimum ratio to set the pH to around 7.6. After this, anti-scalent
 Using renewable energy in rural areas of Oman 321

is added at the optimum level to prevent scaling as it passes through the cartridge filter towards the
membranes.

5.2 Operational Problems and Solutions

The plant was commissioned in October 1995 and is operating effectively. Daily monitoring forms are
completed for all parameters necessary for efficient operation and to enable early detection of any
failures or faults that could arise on the system.

During operation it was noticed that the hydrogen sulphide reacts with other elements of the
groundwater and produces a black silt residue of iron sulphide. This consequently blocked the
microscopic holes in the membranes and led to them being damaged. The company employed to
maintain the system replaced the damaged membranes and installed a sand filter (Dual Media Filter) in
the plant which the water must pass through first. This provided the solution which has enabled the
plant to run smoothly and unhindered. With the exception of the above, during the period of operation
of the desalination plant, there has only been need to replace one of the high pressure pumps and to
replace the cartridge filter every three weeks.

6. Solar Power

Oman is well suited geographically for solar powered applications. Average solar radiation in Oman
around 5.67 kilowatt hours/m/day. Harnessing this power has been a challenge for the Ministry.

6.1 Design of the Solar Power System

Design of the solar power system was based upon total electrical power requirements necessary for the
efficient operation of the desalination plant at the Heelat Ar Rakah camp. This equates to 5.5 kilowatt
hours/m2/day.

To achieve this a solar power system was designed consisting of:

• Solar panels (Type OM55, voltage 17.4 VDC, current 3.05 ADC, 53.05W)
• Inverter (Sinewave TC 3000 - 48 VDC / 230, 50Hz)
• Charge Controller (TR 60 - 48)
• Batteries (12 V, 200 Amp each, linked in series, total 48 VDC)

The calculated power output that should be produced by the solar panels is 11.463 kilowatt hours/day,
taking into account the efficiency of the inverter, charge controller, photovoltaic cells and a safety
factor. Consequently it was found that 42 solar panels are enough to produce the amount of electricity
required. Even so, 64 solar panels were installed.

6.2 Operational Problems and Solutions of the Solar Power System

It became necessary to change the design of the solar system due to the addition of more equipment like
the degasser tower. This mainly involved the installation of motor driven pumps which could not be
connected to the existing solar powered inverter due to insufficient capacity. They were therefore
connected to a diesel powered generator. In order to make the desalination plant completely self
sufficient on solar power, it is necessary to add another inverter with a capacity of 1.3 kw or replace
the existing one on the site with a new inverter of 4.5 kw.

During installation of the solar panels it was found that they were tilted at an angle of 40 degrees to the
hnrixontal Tbi~ can affect the ohotovoltaic cells efficiency. According to the location of the site, in
322 A. AL MALKI et al.

terms of latitude and longitude, the optimum angle of incline for the solar panels is 15 degrees to the
horizontal in order to obtain the maximum amount of solar radiation.
Following a review in September 1996, it was found that the total power output necessary for the
desalination plant was 12.756 kwh/d and not 11.463 kilowatt hours/day as previously estimated. This
implied that 56 solar panels were necessary to obtain this output. This problem was resolved however,
as there were a surplus 22 panels already on site and this increase in power demand could therefore be
accommodated with no extra cost.

7. Wind Power

Three controlling factors influence the decision to use a wind powered pumping system:

• the wind speed of the area

• the depth to groundwater
• the daily water requirement

Wind mills are well known for their ability to pump groundwater. Essentially there are two ways that
wind mills can be used to pump groundwater:

by mechanical means, often suitable for wells with shallow water table and low wind speeds, or
by a wind turbine which generates electricity to power an electrical submersible pump and is
suitable where high wind speeds and deep water table prevail.

Another advantage of the wind turbine is that it does not necessarily need to be fitted directly over the
well head.

Data obtained from meteorological stations, belonging to the Directorate General of Meteorology and
Civil Aviation - Ministry of Communications, showed that there are places in the Sultanate that
experience very high wind speeds. Average annual wind speeds in Thumrait, Sur and Masirah Island
measured 5.7, 5.4 and 4.9 m/sec respectively. This is substantial in comparison to other areas such as
Nizwa, Saiq and Seeb which had speeds in the range 2.3 to 2.8 m/sec. This therefore confirmed that
the Heelat Ar Rakah camp was one of the best locations to attempt to harness wind energy.

In addition, the wind speed data Obtained from Thumrait (some 70 kilometres away), meant that there
was a need to ensure that the wind speed was not different at Heelat ar Rakah. A wind speed measuring
station was installed at the Ministry's camp for a three month period and a comparison of thedata
made. The results showed a minimal difference and a design speed of 5.7 m/sec was adopted based on
the Thumrait data.

7.1 Design of Groundwater Abstraction System using Wind Energy

The BWC 'Excel' is a 10 kilowatt wind turbine at rated wind speed of 13 m/sec. It is placed at the top
of a 24 m tall tower. The wind turbine consisted of 3 blades 3.5 metres long. In addition to the wind
turbine, the groundwater abstraction system consists of submersible pump, pump control unit and
control panel.

The equipment was manufactured by the Bergey Company of the USA with the exception of the pump
element which was manufactured by Grundfos. The tower is located about 30 metres away from the
wellhead. The depth to groundwater table is 30 metres and the water demand is 30 m3/day.

The submersible pump and the size of its motor were selected on the basis of the current generated by
the wind turbine as well as the depth to groundwater.
 Using renewable energy in rural areas of Oman 323

According to the manufacturers design specifications, the water abstraction rate is 8 ma/hour when the
wind speed is at 5 m/sec.

With the installation of the wind turbine at the camp it became necessary to replace the existing
electrical submersible pump in the well with a pump element more suited to receiving an electrical
supply from a wind turbine and thus capable of tolerating fluctuations in electrical current due to
changes in wind speed.

As a safeguard against the possibility of water shortage due to breakdown of the wind turbine, the
diesel generator was also connected to the submersible pump and this would be started when there was
a breakdown or insufficient power output from the wind turbine.

7.2 Problems and Solutions Associated with Wind Power

With the installation of the wind turbine it was found that the irrigation system cannot deliver a
sufficient supply of water to all the plants (which now total 1333), particularly when the wind speed is
low. To alleviate this problem a new irrigation regime has been adopted. In summer, when the wind
speeds are high, trees are divided into two groups and are water in unison with no apparent problems.

However, in winter, (Nov - Feb) wind speeds drop and the pumped water is not at the desired flow rate
or pressure. Two storage tanks, of 8 m3 capacity each, have been installed and connected to the
existing reticulation network at the camp bringing the total camp water storage to 30 m3, which is
suitable for irrigation requirements. These tanks will provide the water that can be subsequently
pumped by small booster pump to irrigate the trees at the required rate and pressure. It is intended that
this small booster pump will be driven by either wind or solar energy.

8. Results and Conclusions

The experimental research station at Heelat ar Rakah has been extremely useful in testing renewable
energy in a field environment.

The following conclusions can be made from the work undertaken to date:

• Desalination by Reverse Osmosis is a very successful method for eliminating fluoride from
groundwater.

Solar power is a feasible method for operating a desalination plant when there is sufficient solar
energy available, but for completeness and safety, should always be provided with a back up more
conventional power supply (ie generator) if possible.

It is possible to abstract groundwater using wind energy from a well with a head of 30 metres. An
average pump rate of 3.8 m3/hr has been obtained with a wind speed at 3 m/sec. This is considered
acceptable especially as this speed is the minimum average wind speed throughout the year. Using
this wind speed, maximum water demands for the camp which are 86 ma/day can be achieved by 20
hours pumping each day.

9. Recommendations

The following recommendations are forthcoming:

324 A. AL MALKI e t al.

Accurate design and calculations through the acquisition and analysis of all available data is
essential before embarking on a renewable energy project. This has been highlighted by the
inaccuracies that have occurred on the number of solar panels necessary to power a desalination
plant.

Future design of wind powered water abstraction should pump directly from the well to a storage
tank first before being consumed. The tank capacity should be at least two times the daily water
demand.

It is essential for accurate data to be available on water demand, static water levels, wind speed data
and storage tank capacity and elevation, before design of a wind powered groundwater pumping
system can be made.

Serious thought should be given to the implementation of wind powered electrical generating
systems in regions enjoying high wind speeds and where conventional electrical powered schemes
are expensive to run.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Director and staff of Research Department and also to Mr. Dave
Heywood for their help and support.