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Energy
EnergyProcedia
Procedia160 (2019) 000–000
00 (2017) 746–751
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
2nd International Conference on Energy and Power, ICEP2018, 13–15 December 2018,
Sydney,
2nd International Conference on Energy Australia
and Power, ICEP2018, 13–15 December 2018,
Sydney, Australia
Prospect of wind energy utilization in Saudi Arabia: A review
ProspectThe
of 15th
wind energy Symposium
International utilization in Saudi
on District Arabia:
Heating A review
and Cooling
Hamed Allhibi, Harun Chowdhury*, Mohamed Zaid, Bavin Loganathan, Firoz Alam
Assessing
Hamed theChowdhury*,
Allhibi, Harun feasibility Mohamed
of usingZaid,
the heat
Bavin demand-outdoor
Loganathan, Firoz Alam
School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, 3000, Australia
temperature function for a long-term district heat demand forecast
School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, 3000, Australia

Abstract
Abstract I. Andrića,b,c*, A. Pinaa, P. Ferrãoa, J. Fournierb., B. Lacarrièrec, O. Le Correc
In Saudi
a
Arabia, the current production of electric power is mainly relying on crude oil which causes a high percentage
In IN+ Center
of Saudi
carbon Arabia, forthe
dioxide Innovation,
emissions
current Technology
and noandpower
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electric power- Instituto
is generated Superior
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relying Av. Rovisco
on crude Pais 1,
sources.
oil which 1049-001
However,
causes Lisbon, Portugal
recently
a high Saudi
percentage
b
Veolia Recherche & Innovation, 291 Avenue Dreyfous Daniel, 78520 Limay, France
Government
of c has announced
carbon dioxide emissions a development
and no power plan
is ‘The Saudifrom
generated Visionany2030’ where the
renewable targetHowever,
sources. is 20% of recently
the production
Saudi
Département Systèmes Énergétiques et Environnement - IMT Atlantique, 4 rue Alfred Kastler, 44300 Nantes, France
of power fromhas
Government theannounced
renewableasources mainlyplan
development from‘The
solarSaudi
and wind.
Vision Like other
2030’ countries
where e.g., China,
the target is 20%India,
of theUS and UK
production
that produce
of power froma the
significant
renewable amount of their
sources mainly electric powerand
from solar from renewable
wind. Like othersources. Saudi
countries Arabia
e.g., China,has a vast
India, USland
andarea
UK
where there isa asignificant
that produce plenty of amount
prospectoftotheir
install renewable
electric powerpowerfrom plants (solar
renewable and wind
sources. farm)
Saudi to generate
Arabia a significant
has a vast land area
amount
where
Abstract of electric
there power
is a plenty oftoprospect
meet their 2030 target.
to install This power
renewable paper analyses past 10
plants (solar andyears
windwind
farm)data in variousa location
to generate of
significant
Saudi Arabia
amount to investigate
of electric power to the
meet feasibility
their 2030to target.
generate power.
This paperThis studypast
analyses also10 recommends
years wind the datapotential
in variouslocations
locationthat
of
are suitable
Saudi
DistrictArabiafortowind
heating power
investigate
networks generation
arethe
commonly including
feasibility
addressed suggestions
to generate
in thepower. of the
This
literature wind
asstudy
one turbine
also
of specifications.
therecommends
most effectivethe potential
solutions forlocations
decreasingthat
the
greenhouse
are gas wind
suitable for emissions from
power the building
generation sector. These
including systemsof
suggestions require high turbine
the wind investments which are returned through the heat
specifications.
©sales.
2018 Due to the changed
The Authors. Published climate conditions
by Elsevier Ltd. and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease,
©prolonging
This
© 2019
is an
2018 The
open
The Authors.
theaccess
Authors. Published
investment
articlereturn
Published by
under Elsevier
byperiod. Ltd.
the CC BY-NC-ND
Elsevier Ltd. license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
This
Theisismain
an open
scope access
of thisarticle
paper under the CC BY-NC-ND
is toresponsibility
assess license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection
This an and
open peer-review
access under
article under the CCthe feasibility of using
of the scientific
BY-NC-ND license the heat demand
committee of the–2nd
outdoor temperature
International function on
Conference
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) for Energy
heat demand
and
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 2nd International Conference on Energy and
forecast. The
Power, ICEP2018.
Selection and district
peer-reviewof Alvalade,
under located
responsibility in Lisbon
of the (Portugal),
scientific was used
committee of as
the a2nd
caseInternational
study. The Conference
district is consisted
on Energyofand
665
Power, ICEP2018.
buildings that
Power, ICEP2018. vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district
renovation
Keywords: scenarios
Renewable werewind
energy; developed (shallow,
energy; wind intermediate,
turbine; Saudi Arabia;deep). To estimate
KSA; Saudi the error, obtained heat demand values were
Vision 2030;
comparedRenewable
Keywords: with results fromwind
energy; a dynamic heat turbine;
energy; wind demandSaudimodel, previously
Arabia; developed
KSA; Saudi and validated by the authors.
Vision 2030;
The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications
1.(the
Introduction
error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation
1.scenarios,
Introductionthe error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered).
The valueis of
There slope increase
a rapid coefficient of increased on averageworldwide
power generation within theutilizing
range of the
3.8%windup to 8% per
energy decade,
because ofthat corresponds
its higher to the
efficiency
indecrease
conversion
There is in athe number
process.
rapid of
Forheating
increase hours
instance,
of power in of2016,
22-139h
generation during
amounttheofutilizing
theworldwide heating season
the wind (depending
theenergy
wind on
was increased
energy the combination
because by
of 12% of GW)
(50
its higher weather and
from
efficiency
renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the
2015 [1]. The wind
in conversion energy
process. For reached
instance,469 in GW
2016,ofthetotal energyofinthe
amount 2016 worldwide
wind energy was[2]. That makesby4%
increased 12%of the
(50total
GW)energy
from
coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and
2015 [1]. The wind energy reached 469 GW of total energy in 2016 worldwide [2]. That makes 4% of the total energy
improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under
* Corresponding responsibility
author. of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and
Tel.: +6199256103.
Cooling.
E-mail address: harun.chowdhury@rmit.edu.au
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +6199256103.
E-mail address: harun.chowdhury@rmit.edu.au
Keywords:©Heat
1876-6102 2018demand; Forecast;
The Authors. Climatebychange
Published Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the
1876-6102 © 2018 The Authors. Published CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
by Elsevier Ltd.
Selection
This is an and
openpeer-review under
access article responsibility
under of the scientific
the CC BY-NC-ND licensecommittee of the 2nd International Conference on Energy and Power, ICEP2018.
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 2nd International Conference on Energy and Power, ICEP2018.
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
1876-6102 © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 2nd International Conference on Energy and Power, ICEP2018.
10.1016/j.egypro.2019.02.184
 Hamed Allhibi et al. / Energy Procedia 160 (2019) 746–751 747
2 Hamed Allhibi/ Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

generated worldwide which is equivalent to that produced by Japan, the 5th largest energy producer in the world. In
Europe, the share of wind energy production technology was 12% of all other energy sources. Recent data indicate
that most of the Middle East countries except Iran and Israel accounted almost 0% of this renewable energy technology
[3]. The production of energy from this renewable source in these countries has not been implemented for a variety of
reasons. Firstly, the availability of oil in large quantities in these countries and secondly, the lack of information and
investment on research in extracting energy from other renewable energy sources. However, Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) member states: The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait have taken many
measures to reduce their dependency on crude oil and planned to utilize other natural sources such as natural gas, wind
and solar energy to produce electricity and reduce carbon emission despite of the rapid population and industrial
growth in these countries. Fig. 1 shows the worldwide power generation from renewable energy share in percentage
by region.
2 500 000
Africa Asia

2 000 000 C America+ Carib Europ

Middle East N America

Power Generation , GWh

1 500 000 S America

1 000 000

500 000

0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Fig. 1. Renewable energy power generation [19].

Wind power technology is expected to rise rapidly in many countries in future including KSA. Recently in Saudi
Arabia, research and development initiatives have been taken by several government funded projects aimed to reduce
the consumption of crude oil and thereby controlling CO2 emissions. There are several studies [2-5] and experiments
are ongoing in solar and nuclear power to generate electricity. The Saudi Vision 2030 is focusing mainly on renewable
energy including wind energy. Its target is to reach 20% of its internal power generation from solar and wind by 2030
[6].

2. Current power generation scenario in KSA

Currently in KSA, electricity is generated by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and Saline Water Conversion
Corporation (SWCC) mainly from diesel and natural gas [7]. SEC generate 79 GW of electricity with a rate of 36%
efficiency and SWCC provides 12% of the total electricity in KSA. The National Electricity Transmission Company,
a company owned by the Saudi Electricity Company, is responsible for the transfer of electrical power from the
generation plants to the distribution networks, operation and maintenance of the electricity transmission system from
110 kV to 380 kV. The company has approximately 77,181 km power transmission line for high voltage and low
voltage. It also has 3059 transformers and 990 stations for high voltage and low voltage [8].
In 2001, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman agreed to establish a Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) and developed an interconnecting power station. In 2009, the Commission started its functions with four
member states before the rest of the countries were organized in 2014. In 2017, GCC dealt with a total of 142 cases of
loss of generation or loads over 100 MW and maintained for the ninth year in a row for the continuity of security of
748 Hamed Allhibi et al. / Energy Procedia 160 (2019) 746–751
Hamed Allhibi/ Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 3

power networks by up to 100% [9]. Fig. 2 shows the electricity production and the unit price of electricity (Riyals/kwh)
in Saudi Arabia between 2012 and 2017. Over that period, the lowest point of production was observed in 2013 with
the total production of electricity generation at around 203 GWh, while the peak point was on the following year in
2014 at approximately 219 GWh. From 2014 till 2017, there was a steady decrease in the production of electricity in
Saudi Arabia, which was due to high electricity price rate as indicated in Fig. 2.

222,000 0.35

220,000
0.3
218,000
Total electicity generation (GWh)

Unit Price of power (Riyals/kwh)

216,000 0.25

214,000
0.2
212,000
0.15
210,000

208,000 0.1
206,000
0.05
204,000

202,000 0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Fig. 2. Electricity production and change of unit price of power in Saudi Arabia, adapted from [8-9].

3. Wind energy in Saudi Arabia

Wind energy can be an attractive technology of alternative energy sources for KSA. The wind map of Saudi Arabia
marks that the kingdom is identified by the presence of two major areas which are the Arabian Gulf and the red sea
coastline zones. As shown in the Renewable Resource Atlas, the annual average wind speeds in most areas of KSA is
between 6.0 and 8.0 m/s. However, these statistics do not include a wind power potential analysis reflecting the wind
speed distributions over time. Higher wind speeds occur in the northeast, the central and near the mountains in the
western regions. King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) established ten monitoring
stations: in Hafar Al Batin, Sharurah, two sites in Yanbu, two sites in Riyadh, Aljof, Traif and Jeddah.
Fig. 3 shows the Saudi Arabia wind speed map. In the same time KACARE plans to install a complete wind
monitoring network consisting of 40 monitoring masts around the country. Moreover, Atlas will provide the data as
they are installed and refine the current data. KSA has enough wind energy potential with average wind speed 7.5-8
m/s in east coast reign and 7-7.5 m/s on the western coast. The central reign has average wind speed 5-6.5 m/s [10].
Fig. 4 shows the average wind speeds of different sites located 100 m above the sea-level during of entire year in
2016. These selected sites are located all over the entire kingdom represent north, south, east, west and the middle
regions of Saudi Arabia. Both Riyadh, the capital (i.e. the largest city in Saudi Arabia), and Jeddah, the second largest,
have the lowest average of wind speed which might be due to the natural landscape. Yanbu has the highest average
wind speed. In the same time, Turaif, Sharurah and Hafar Al Batin are rural areas and have considerable average wind
speed.
 Hamed Allhibi et al. / Energy Procedia 160 (2019) 746–751 749
4 Hamed Allhibi/ Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

Fig. 3. Saudi Arabia airspeed around the country, adapted from [10].

7
Wind speed (m/s)

4
Al Jouf: Wind Station Al Wajh: Wind Station
3 Hafar Al Batin: Wind Station Jeddah South: Wind Station
Riyadh - City Site A: Wind Station Sharurah: Wind Station
2

Month

Fig. 4. Monthly average wind speed in different locations of Saudi Arabia in 2016, adapted from [10].

4. Selection of wind turbines for power generation in Saudi Arabia

Large wind turbine is required to convert the wind energy into electricity in a commercial scale. Currently, there
are two leading wind turbine manufacturers: Vestas and Goldwind. They have installed a significant number of
turbines worldwide for commercial wind power generation [11, 12]. Table 1 represents the specifications of two
commercial wind turbine models.
750 Hamed Allhibi et al. / Energy Procedia 160 (2019) 746–751
Hamed Allhibi/ Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 5

Table 1. Comparison of two wind turbines with their specifications.

Type Vestas V136 Goldwind 3.0MW(S)

Capacity 4-4.2 MW 3-3.4MW

Temperature -20 +45 -30 +50

Frequency 50/60 Hz 50/60 Hz

Hub High 91.5 m 100m
wind speed 6-9 m/s 5.5-8.5 m/s
Price $1.1 million/ MW $1.01 million /MW
Annual Energy Production 18 GWh -
Design Lifetime 25 Years 25 Years

Selection of a proper wind turbine depends on the availability of wind energy as well as the characteristics of wind
speed in those sites. According to the available wind speed data for different sites in KSA, Vestas wind turbine is a
suitable and sustainable solution to invest and produce electricity in Yanbu where the average wind speed is over 8
m/s. However, more research need to be done before installing wind farm for large scale power generation. A
socioeconomic study also must be performed before implementing the project on site.

5. Discussion

Most of the countries in the world including KSA rely severely on coal, oil and natural gas which is the main cause
of CO2 emissions and global warming. However, in 2015, the representatives of more than 100 countries met to sign
the Paris convention to limit carbon dioxide and naphtha emissions [13-14]. Their goal is to control and limit the global
temperature not more than 2 °C per year. KSA is one of the important countries in this treaty for several reasons.
Firstly, KSA is the largest crude oil exporter that exports more than 8 million barrels of crude oil daily [15] and
consumes more than 3.4 million barrels of crude oil per a day [16]. In addition, in 2014, KSA generated around 494.82
million ton of CO2 emission [17]. Consequently, that makes KSA to be in the 11th rank in the world of CO2 emission.
On the other hand, Saudi's electricity consumption is expected to grow twice by 2023 [18]. Therefore, in KSA, CO2
emissions will be increased significantly because of future development and industrialization. For example, in 1990,
CO2 emissions were 208 million metric tons while in 2010, CO2 emissions were 468.7 million metric tons. One of the
solutions to reduce CO2 emissions is to use renewable energy utilization for electric power generation.
KSA utilize more than 3 million barrels per day of domestic oil consumption to provide more than 55 GW of energy
[1]. Therefore, KSA is the largest consumer of petroleum in the Middle East and the 6th in the world [2]. In addition,
KSA is the first country in the world using crude oil for generating power. Because of the increasing use of crude oil
to generate power for domestic consumption, KSA may become an oil importer by 2038 [19]. KSA has recently
announced a national development plan ‘the Saudi Vision 2030’ to utilise the natural resources to produce energy.
Producing 20% of the total energy from natural sources is one of the vision goals to reduce the reliance of crude oil.
The Saudi Vision 2030 is monitored profoundly to fulfil its target through the investment projects to support scientific
research or partnering with several advanced countries in renewable energy field.

6. Conclusions and recommendations

Although the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is heavily dependent on fossil fuels, it has the potential to utilize renewable
energy sources specially the wind energy for electricity generation. Several locations of the kingdom are suitable for
wind power generation in large scale. The Saudi governments can take initiative to install several wind firms in the
potential sites by some pilot projects to further investigate the feasibility of wind power generation. Thus, the kingdom
will be able to reach its target 20% power generation from renewable energy sources mentioned in the Saudi Vision
2030.
 Hamed Allhibi et al. / Energy Procedia 160 (2019) 746–751 751
6 Hamed Allhibi/ Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

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