Prospects and challenges of promoting renewable energy in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries
Student name: Mr Avira Kurian Kallivayalil
Guide: Dr Atul Kumar
Year of completion: 2016
Host Organisation: King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Shahid Hasan
Abstract: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are countries whose economies depend on hydrocarbon and are burning their natural resources at very high rates. While being important oil and gas producers, their rapid socio-economics growth, characterized by the increasing population, high rate of urbanization and substantial industrialization is transforming them to a big energy consuming country. Demand for electricity is soaring high. Most of the electricity generated in GCC is coming from the combustion of fossil fuels, which causes pollution and environmental damage. Due to the vast growth of development in the infrastructure and investment in energy, the electricity consumption in GCC region has been increasing at a fast rate; CAGR of 7.04% from 2010 to 2014.
This paper represents the electricity sector overview and how this sector is undertaken in each country. An attempt is also made to through this paper to understand the demand-side and supply-side of electricity in each country. All GCC countries have excess electricity generation capacity. It also looks at the electricity tariff provided to the consumer, which are heavily subsidized by the government. The comparison of LCOE with the electricity tariff to find out the viability of installation of small-scale renewable energy projects.
GCC countries have huge potential for renewable energy sources mainly solar and wind, but due to the dominance of oil sector, the renewable energy sectors is still under-developed. The GCC countries have realized, that depending on gas will not be the solution, due to the shortage of resource and environmental impact, particularly the GHG emissions. Therefore, they need to think of renewable energy resources. This paper analysis what are the inhibitors for the promotion of renewable energy are and how they can be overcome.
Keywords: Renewable Energy, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Electricity sector, Electricity tariff, Challenges for RE.
