Showa Shell Eyes Solar Project in Kingdom

DHAHRAN, September 05, 2009 -- A delegation from Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K., one of Japan’s largest refiners and a solar-cell manufacturer, met with a team from Saudi Aramco recently to investigate the possibility of developing another of the Kingdom’s natural energy resources: the sun.

Emitting about 7,000 watts of energy per square meter over an average of 12 hours every day, the Kingdom’s sun is a powerhouse. And in a country where most of the 40 gigawatts of electricity that is consumed per year is generated by fossil fuels, it could be a valuable resource and an addition to the Kingdom’s energy portfolio.

“For a country like Saudi Arabia, in its pursuit to diversify its economic base, one of the most important sources of energy to look at and develop is solar energy,” said Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali I. Al-Naimi in a statement last year.

That is the thinking behind Showa Shell Solar and Saudi Aramco’s partnership to study the potential of solar energy in the Kingdom. A memorandum of understanding was signed July 12, 2009, in Tokyo between Khalid G. Al-Buainain, senior vice president of Refining, Marketing and International, and Showa Shell chairman Shigeya Kato, agreeing to conduct tests and build a 10-megawatt pilot solar power plant as a first step to developing a Kingdom-wide solar energy strategy.

The Japanese company’s 2-square-meter panels are capable of generating 80 watts of power

The Kingdom’s desert climate poses several challenges. Conventional, silicone-based solar panels are less reliable in high temperatures, making them unsuitable for the Kingdom’s average 28 degrees C temperature. Showa Shell Solar’s silicone-free, copper-indium-selenium (CIS) panels are more durable in high temperatures.

This isn’t the company’s first experience with solar energy. In the early 1980s, solar panels were used along well casings, pipelines and flow-lines to power cathodic protection from corrosion. However, high costs and insufficient technological research made it impractical to pursue on a larger scale. This initiative puts an end to that era.

“Technology has advanced,” said Faisal Habiballah, head of the Saudi Aramco team that is leading the initiative. “It is much more cost-effective, much more efficient and much more durable. It is more attractive to use now.”

It is also more attractive as a method of providing energy to remote areas that are not connected to the Kingdom’s power grid — mainly villages in the South and Southwestern regions. These villages generate their own electricity, and burn fuel — mostly diesel — to do it

Using solar energy not only cuts the costs of transporting the fuel and treating it — a process that wastes 70 percent of the fuel required — it also frees up that fuel for other uses.

“The fossil fuels can be used for high-value industry and high-value conversion products rather than burning it,” said Habiballah. “They can generate more revenue for the company and the country.”

If successful, solar energy may someday join hydrocarbons as a source of exported revenue. “In the same way that we are an oil exporter, we can also be an exporter of power,” Al-Naimi said.