Applicability of Hydropower Generation and Pumped Hydro Energy Storage in the Middle East and North Africa

Shaima A. Alnaqbi, Shamma Alasad, Haya Aljaghoub, Abdul Hai Alami, Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem and Abdul Ghani Olabi
Additional contact information
Shaima A. Alnaqbi: Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Shamma Alasad: Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Haya Aljaghoub: Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Abdul Hai Alami: Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem: Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Abdul Ghani Olabi: Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-27

Abstract: Energy storage for medium- to large-scale applications is an important aspect of balancing demand and supply cycles. Hydropower generation coupled with pumped hydro storage is an old but effective supply/demand buffer that is a function of the availability of a freshwater resource and the ability to construct an elevated water reservoir. This work reviews the technological feasibility of hydropower generation and also pumped hydro storage and its geographical distribution around the world. There is also an emphasis on installations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in terms of available capacity as well as past and future developments and expansions. A discussion is presented on a project taking place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Hatta region, which has a water reservoir that would be fit for utilization for pumped hydro storage applications. Once the project is commissioned in 2024, it will provide an estimated 2.06 TWh per year, helping the UAE achieve the goal of relying on 25% renewable energy resources in their energy mix by 2030. These results were obtained by using EnergyPLAN software to project the effect of utilizing various energy resources to face the expected demand of ~38 TWh in 2030.

Keywords: pumped hydro storage; energy storage; MENA region; EnergyPLAN; renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/7/2412/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/7/2412/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:7:p:2412-:d:779298

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().