Saudi Arabia emerges as top solar producer

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has emerged as one of the world’s most productive solar regions with some of the highest summer temperatures ever recorded on earth, said Jean-Claude Estival, renewable energy business manager of Schneider Electrical projects in France during his visit to Riyadh last week.

Photo: Jalal HB

Estival delivered a speech on “Why Saudi Arabia’s huge solar potential may not be enough” at the Solar Arabia Summit held in Riyadh last week. “Solar Energy is one of the most promising contributor to solve energy peak demand, expected to be 120 GW by 2030,” Estival said.

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He pointed out that the Kingdom is about half the size of the European Union. The country has twice the average of solar irradiation compared to Europe. Solar energy projects are among the most promising contributors to solve the energy demand that is anticipated after 17 years. Schneider Electric sees a bigger challenge than just generating solar energy. “The Kingdom should highlight a slogan such as: Make the most of your energy,” he stressed.

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Green energy 'ten times dearer than power stations'

A rush to green energy by spending billions covering much of the countryside with wind turbines would be an expensive blunder, a damning study has found.

Professor Gordon Hughes of Edinburgh University said the massive programme will cost consumers £120billion by 2020 through higher bills.

This is almost ten times more than the £13billion it would cost to generate the same amount of electricity from efficient gas-fired power stations, according to the leading energy and environment economist.

Read details: Mail Online

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5 Cities Harnessing Breakthrough Geothermal Technology

Full Story: Mashable

With the increase in demand for energy the world over, the demand for sustainable energy is soaring manifold. It is estimated that the global energy consumption has seen a 5.3% increase within the last year, the largest jump since 1973. 

Concept of Geothermal energy (Read more about it)

The shift to digital lifestyle, which includes extensive usage of smartphones and its all other forms has also added additional burden on energy consumption. For information, it takes 35 times more energy to produce a pound of smartphone than to make a pound of book. 

In order to meet the increasing energy demands, reports Mashable, five cities need to me credited around the world for their efforts to use other means of energy, like the geothermal energy. These cities include Boise, Idaho, Reno, Nevada, Reykjavik, Iceland, Masdar City, UAE and Perth, Australia.

Read full story for detil on each city.

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Energy Shortage Mars Economic Growth in Pakistan

Full Story: The Express Tribune  November 2, 2011

Charles Ebinger, a senior fellow of Brookings Institution has said that Pakistan’s poor pricing and lack of incentive for gas development had led to problems in its gas sector, and that Pakistan’s economy was suffering from the lack of power.

Ebinger's latest book,  ‘Energy and Security in South Asia: Cooperation or Conflict’ covers the energy situation and problems each country faces in South Asia.

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ADB Provides Loan to Pakistan for Wind Energy

Full Story: Pakistan Today

ADB has announced a loan $36.8 million as part funding of  $36.8 $147 million wind energy project being implemented by the Turkish company Zorlu Enerji Electrik Uretim. The company has decided to increase project output from initial 6 MW to 56.4 MW by 2013.

Pakistan is an energy starved country, and mostly dependent on costly oil-based power plants, which makes availability of electricity very costly. There is around 50,000 MW of wind power capacity available in the south of the country alone. If this sector is properly tapped, Pakistan can conveniently overcome its energy requirement through cheaply available wind energy.

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