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DUBAI: New research by a major Saudi university has shown promising results in renewable energy by using atmospheric water vapor to cool solar panels.
The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) project has achieved a nearly 20 percent increase in electricity generation.
“As the climate crisis worsens, many believe that solar power is the ultimate solution for sustainability,” said Dr. Peng Wang, a KAUST professor leading the study. “Photovoltaic (PV) energy is the most popular way to convert solar energy into electricity.”
According to the latest European report on the state of photovoltaic energy, global installed capacity will double by 2025 to reach 1,500 gigawatts (GW), and beyond 3,000 GW by 2030. “The Middle East is blessed with stable solar irradiance and reliable. It is arguably the best quality solar irradiance in the world, ”said Wang.
“The annual average solar irradiance in Saudi Arabia of 2,300 kilowatt-hours per square meter (kWh / m2) is more than 1.4 times that of Japan (1,600 kWh / m2). Also, there are vast areas of land in the Middle East that remain undeveloped and unused, perfect for using solar energy. “
If five percent of the Kingdom’s land area were completely covered by solar panels, there would be more electricity than necessary to power the entire world, according to one expert. (Shutterstock)
By one estimate, Wang said, if five percent of the Kingdom’s land area were completely covered by solar panels, there would be more electricity than necessary to power the entire world. “Solar project development has been slow in the Middle East in the past,” he told Arab News.
“Today, however, the giant solar projects, in the process of being implemented and planned, are a clear testament that the Middle East, including the Kingdom, is ready to play a leading role in the global race for solar energy.” .
However, one of the main problems regarding solar panels remains the high temperatures during the day, even in Saudi Arabia, where such temperatures can reach 40 C warmer than ambient air. Wang explained that this is due to commercial panels, which cannot convert more than 20 percent of the solar energy they absorb into electricity.
“The rest of the solar energy absorbed by more than 80 percent is undesirably converted into heat,” he said. “Heat is considered wasteful and leads to high PV temperature.”
High temperatures have two adverse effects: they reduce the electricity generation of the panel and further shorten the useful life of the panel. As a result, solar projects have always sought effective panel cooling in arid and semi-arid regions, such as the Gulf.
INNUMBERS
Solar energy
– 50% KSA of electricity expected from renewables by 2030
– 2% of KSA’s household needs covered by renewable energy in 2019
– 90% reduction in the cost of solar energy since 2011
“An effective photovoltaic cooling approach, such as the one KAUST reported, would lead to better electricity generation and longer panel life,” said Wang. “By doing so, no additional land is required.”
KAUST researchers have used a simple cooling strategy, which collects atmospheric water vapor to cool the panel. This technique was shown to have increased electricity generation by approximately 20 percent.
This cooling system is considered a new concept in the industry, and the research involved provides the first proof of concept. Its performance was demonstrated on a small-scale photovoltaic panel, but the team plans to expand it to the size of a commercial photovoltaic panel in the next few years.
“This will make the technology commercially competitive to make a real-world impact,” Wang said. “At the same time, there are atmospheric water vapor-assisted cooling applications beyond photovoltaic cooling, and we will also actively pursue them.”
He further explained that water, among all known liquids at room temperature, has the highest latent heat of evaporation. “This means that evaporation of water can take a lot of heat away from an object,” said Wang. “If this concept is to be used to cool a panel, then the question is where to get water, especially in a desert where panels are installed. photovoltaic “.
Although water may not be visible in desert terrain, much of it can be found in the air, and the amount of water available and constantly preserved in Earth’s atmosphere amounts to more than six times all the water in all rivers of the planet.
“Water vapor is available everywhere, including desert regions,” he said. “My research has been working on harvesting atmospheric water vapor to produce fresh drinking water. By doing this research, we found that the relative humidity in the desert at night is very suitable for collecting water vapor. “
The giant solar projects, in the process of being implemented and planned, are a clear testament that the Middle East, including the Kingdom, is ready to play a leading role in the global race for solar energy.
Professor Peng Wang |
For Jenny Chase, head of solar research at BloombergNEF, solar panels typically generate more power when kept cool. However, the difference rarely justifies active cooling.
“Saudi Arabia is getting hotter and hotter, so changes in photovoltaic system design that keep panels cool will improve generation,” he said. “However, if it costs a lot of money, it may not be worth it. Most of the panels don’t cool down. “
She hopes that Saudi Arabia will build more solar panels regardless of the state of cooling technologies. “Renewable energy is the future everywhere,” he said. “But standard technology is good enough if this cooling technology doesn’t work.”
Chase said that producing solar energy in the Kingdom costs less than using fossil fuels. “Saudi Arabia also has no shortage of desert, and solar energy can help it meet the growing demand for air conditioning, which occurs mainly during the day,” Chase told Arab News. “It will probably generate some wind as well, but solar power is cheaper in a sunny country.”
A Saudi man talks to a journalist at a solar plant in Uyayna, north of Riyadh, on March 29, 2018 (AFP / File Photo).
According to industry experts, maximizing electricity generation is vitally important for any solar project. “This situation is particularly important in Saudi Arabia, a market that has demonstrated extremely high competitiveness,” said Miguel Pozuelo, Key Account Manager for the Middle East at Soltec, a speaker at the 2021 Future Energy World Summit in Abu Dhabi.
“For a specific photovoltaic module technology, there are two main ways to optimize generation: We can increase the irradiation that falls both on the front and on the back of the panel to maximize the amount of solar rays that reach it, and therefore therefore, boost electricity generation ”.
This work has proven its effectiveness around the world using bifacial panels. Module cooling has also been identified as another production maximizer. “In July 2018, Soltec launched the Bifacial Follow-up Evaluation Center where, together with other entities, it has tested how different factors affect bifacial production,” said Pozuelo.
“Bifacial tracking combined with module cooling will play an extremely important role in Saudi Arabia.”
He described the KAUST project as indicative of renewable energy technology advancements in the Kingdom. “Innovation is crucial to ensure the success of any industry and, in the case of solar energy, it is directly related to the specific conditions of the site,” said Pozuelo.
“That is the reason why Soltec is launching a test facility to fully understand behavior in the desert environment of the Middle East, with a focus on bifacial monitoring and optimization of automated cleaning.”
Saudis work at a solar panel factory in Uyayna, north of Riyadh, on March 29, 2018 (AFP / File Photo).
He sees a promising future for renewable energy, and particularly solar, in Saudi Arabia, adding that the first utility-scale projects currently in advanced stages of development will bring the industry to maturity.
Meanwhile, in Thuwal, north of Jeddah, field tests at the KAUST campus have shown that the use of atmospheric water vapor cooling could increase winter and summer electricity production by 13 to 19 percent. . “It is an important milestone,” said Professor Wang.
He added: “The Kingdom has the best quality solar radiation in the world and is poised to become the world leader in solar energy. At the same time, the region faces the problem of a large amount of waste heat from the panels. In our fight against global warming, renewable energy is at the center of the emerging concept of a circular and decarbonized economy. “
Wang expressed hope that this new technology will convey the message that scientific innovation can make renewable energy even more “green.”
“Let us trust our future with renewable energy and invest in science to make the world a better place for everyone,” he said.
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Twitter: @CalineMalek
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