In this paper, the potential of Silicon development for photovoltaics will be discussed in conjunction with the availability of raw material and photovoltaic demand in Saudi Arabia. Recent studies by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) suggest that Silicon raw material for...

Desalination of water is essential to supply sufficient good quality water to remote areas to satisfy various needs. Saudi Arabia has enormous amount of deep water and the underground water in many areas of this country is so brackish that it requires extensive pre-treatment. In order to utilise...

This paper describes the lessons learned from the major RD&D activities at Energy Research Institute (ERI), King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology (KACST) in the field of solar energy. Photovoltaic, solar thermal dishes, solar water heating, solar water pumping and desalination, solar...

The paper deals with the in situ experimental determination of the thermal properties of the underground soil for use in the design of borehole heat exchangers (BHE). The approach is based on recording the unsteady thermal response of a BHE that has been installed for the first time in Saudi...

Energy savings from the utilization of daylight will be influenced by the amount of external daylight incident on the external surface of the window plane. Therefore, savings from daylight will vary from a place to another, based on the prevailing sky conditions in the climate concerned. This...

PV plant for water pumping and desalination in remote area has been implemented; the plant was the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia. The design of PV plant was based on the specification of the site, the depth and quality of water, the daily water quantity produced and the autonomy period of the...

The analysis of recently collected wind data at five sites in Saudi Arabia namely, Dhulum, Arar, Yanbu, Gassim and Dhahran is presented. The five sites represent different geographically and climatologically conditions. The data collected over a period spanned between 1995 and 2002 with...

The regression coefficient of the well-known Angstrom correlation are determined for Riyadh city (the capital of Saudi Arabia) longitude 46° 14′E 24°55′N The relationship of the daily and monthly variation of the fraction of the diffuse solar irradiation to extrateresstrial HdHo = Kd and...

A wind–pv–diesel hybrid power system has been designed for a village in Saudi Arabia which is presently powered by a diesel power plant consisting of eight diesel generating sets of 1,120 kW each. The study found a wind–pv–diesel hybrid power system with 35% renewable energy...