Abstract
The potential for solar energy in the Middle East is immense. It in general has the highest levels of solar input in terrestrial world. They also have cheap, plentiful space and the potential to generate solar power for electricity, heat, cooling and for water desalination. Continuously high solar radiation makes it ideal locations for solar installations, the potential reach of which is limited to deserts.
Direct Normal Radiation (DNR), the main measure of a region’s suitability for solar thermal concentrated applications, ranges between 2050 and 2800 kilowatts-hour per square meter per year (kWh/m2/year) in the Arab region. This is equivalent to 1–2 barrel oil per square meter per year. These rates are among the best in the world making the region suitable for solar heating and cooling, Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) applications.
Despite these favorable conditions solar energies account in average to less than 0.2% of the region’s total installed capacity for electricity, compared to currently ca. 7% (40,000 MW) in Germany and almost 33% Of German Electricity Came From Renewables in 2015. Costa Rica completes 2016 without having to burn a single fossil fuel for more than 250 days. 98.2 percent of Costa Rica's electricity came from renewable sources in 2016.
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El Bassam, N. (2017). Technologies and Options of Solar Energy Applications in the Middle East. In: Murad, S., Baydoun, E., Daghir, N. (eds) Water, Energy & Food Sustainability in the Middle East. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48920-9_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48920-9_9
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