KAUST Identifies Top 10 Sites for Solar and Wind Energy Storage in the Red Sea through Research Study

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King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has identified the top 10 recommended locations for solar and wind energy storage through a new research study.
These locations will contribute to accelerating the Kingdom’s transition to renewable energy sources, enhancing water resource management, and strengthening food security in alignment with Saudi Vision 2030.
The Kingdom possesses immense potential in solar and wind energy. Therefore, the study focused on determining how the transition to these renewable sources can support water management in the country, aiming to achieve at least half of its electricity capacity from renewable energy sources. Achieving this goal requires significant changes in the energy sector, which was responsible for about half of the Kingdom’s carbon dioxide emissions in 2022.
The study leader, Professor Yoshihide Wada, emphasized that renewable energy is essential for the Kingdom’s sustainable future.
He indicated that the main challenge lies in how to store energy for use during periods of high demand.
In the Kingdom, electricity consumption significantly increases between the winter and summer seasons in some years, necessitating infrastructure capable of storing energy harvested from wind and solar sources during the cooler months for use in the hotter months, Professor Wada said.
He also noted that one of the solutions the Kingdom is investing in is batteries, which store energy only for daily cycles. However, he said, to store energy over longer seasonal cycles, the Kingdom is considering seasonal pumped hydro storage.
In this approach, desalinated water can be stored in reservoirs on high mountains and released on demand to generate energy and supply water, Professor Wada said.
Nevertheless, the locations for seasonal pumped hydro storage are not inexpensive, with each site costing approximately ten billion of dollars. Therefore, it is crucial to conduct a thorough site evaluation when assessing feasibility.
For this purpose, scientists considered several factors, including the evaporation of stored water, water salinity, and the feasibility of constructing nearby solar or wind power plants.