The effectiveness of renewable energies projects in kuwait—paaet solar energy project

Abstract

In Kuwait, 70% of electricity is generated from oil power station where the total irradiation on a plane equals 1891 kWh/m2/year and the average monthly temperature rises about 42.3 °C, so the solar energy can be considered as a main renewable source of energy in Kuwait. 70% of produced energy is used in air conditioning and other services for households, while the commercial sector consumes only 30% of the produced electricity (42.58 billion kWh in 2010). The Public Authority for Applied Sciences and Training (PAAET) started to design Kuwait’s first solar energy station, and this project is supported by Pan Arab Consulting Engineers (PACE) and was proposed to cover 17,542 m2 with a total proposed production of 2046 MWh/Year. This research report discusses the proposed design in order to find the main problems causing low performance, especially the dust and the long period to get rate of return. A set of recommendation was listed.