Open AccessDispatchable renewable energy from CSP and CSP+EGS in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Author(s) -
Alberto Boretti
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/813/1/012003
Subject(s) - dispatchable generation , renewable energy , photovoltaic system , concentrated solar power , energy storage , environmental science , wind power , environmental economics , intermittent energy source , process engineering , engineering , waste management , electrical engineering , distributed generation , power (physics) , economics , physics , quantum mechanics
Renewable energy is part of the national sustainable energy mix for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Relevant contributors are wind, and more importantly solar photovoltaic. Wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) are cheap, but they are suffering from variability, unpredictability, and in the case of solar PV, also intermittency. As the lithium-ion battery energy storage needed to make a stable grid only accepting these supplies is unaffordable, dispatchable renewable energy technologies are under study. Concentrated solar power (CSP) with thermal energy storage (TES) is the most promising opportunity. Requesting significant R&D, but having a large potential, enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) may help in the future, especially if coupled to CSP. Other relevant help may come from waste valorization. A renewable only grid managed by artificial intelligence (AI) operator will have to couple variable, unpredictable, and intermittent renewable energy supplies with battery energy storage and dispatchable renewable energy.