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Mastering Renewable & Alternative Energies

The Middle East and Africa are no exception in the world’s race for generating green energy or renewable energy. With the massive and abundance of sunshine all year round solar parks and solar cities has gain dominance in Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait. Solar parks comprising of photovoltaic (PV) cells and concentrated solar power (CSP) generation have massive output capacities which are used for generating electricity and solar powered desalination plants.

Wind farms, onshore and offshore are also mushrooming in Africa and Middle East. Gigawatts capacities from wind power are in the pipeline occupying the vast deserts and offshore waterways. Wind power is one of the fastest-growing renewable energy technologies. Usage is on the rise worldwide, in part because costs are falling. Global installed wind-generation capacity onshore and offshore has increased by a factor of almost 75 in the past two decades, jumping from 7.5 gigawatts (GW) in 1997 to some 564 GW by 2018, according to IRENA’s latest data. This capacity is growing as technologies for wind turbines gets more efficient.

Solar energy is used worldwide and is increasingly popular for generating electricity or heating and desalinating water. Solar power is generated in two main ways:

Photovoltaics (PV), also called solar cells, are electronic devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity. The modern solar cell is likely an image most people would recognise – they are in the panels installed on houses.

Concentrated solar power (CSP), uses mirrors to concentrate solar rays. These rays heat fluid, which creates steam to drive a turbine and generate electricity. CSP is used to generate electricity in large-scale power plants.

So why is the oil-rich African and Middle East countries, which still generates most of its electricity from fossil fuels, becoming so keen on green alternatives?

During the last few years, UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have unveiled multi-billion dollar plans to Improve alternative energy scenario in their respective countries. The most notable example is the Masdar City of Abu Dhabi that has developed a holistic approach to tackle global warming and implement sustainable energy technologies. It will be a sustainable, zero-carbon and zero-waste modern urban habitat. The Masdar City strives to promote innovation and sustainable urban development in a modern cleantech cluster and free economic zone.

Dubai is on track to generate 2,863 megawatts (MW) of clean electricity through utility-scale solar power projects by 2023. Another important objective is to involve and support youngsters in the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Dubai is now looking at clean energy-powered Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (RO) to expand production capacity to 305 million gallons of desalinated water per day by 2030. this will increase total production capacity to 750 million gallons per day and is also part of efforts to ensure that by 2030, all of the desalinated water will be powered by clean energy. The solar park is targeting a total installed capacity of 5,000 MW by 2030 using photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies.

Saudi Arabia’s first wind power project, a $500 million (Dh1.8 billion) scheme, reached a financial close, according to its developers.

The 400 megawatt Dumat Al Jandal wind farm, located 896 kilometers north of Riyadh in the Al Jouf region, is the kingdom’s first utility-scale wind project and was awarded to a consortium led by France’s EDF and Abu Dhabi’s Masdar.

Tanweer in Oman is proud to announce the launch of the Dhofar Wind Power Project as one of the major achievements of the project. The commercial operation of the plant is expected in the coming months,” the state-owned utility, whose mandates covers remote areas unconnected to the national grids.

As these new technologies continue to develop, further professional development is needed to ensure that professionals working within the space are prepared for the energy transition.

Energy Training Centre is offering a course on “Mastering Renewable & Alternative Energies

The participants in this training course will learn to:

  • Recognize the concepts of global warming potential and reduction of carbon footprints
  • Appreciate the various methods of green energy generation of electricity
  • Determine the solar, wind and hydro electricity
  • Understand the merits of bulk energy storage and distributed energy resources
  • Design the interconnection between renewables and the grid

Expand your skillset and update your knowledge through the following Renewable Energy Training Courses offered by the Energy Training Centre.

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