ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 568

in Kuwait. It is assumed that renewable energy sources could reach its full potential in the next 20
years and has the capability to replace the fossil fuels up to 20% by 2030. Renewable sources could
also curb the global CO2 emission rates up to one-third by the year 2050 (Cipollina 2009).

Solar Energy Sources and Technologies
Kuwait is found to be rich in the acquisition of solar energy as it receives ample amounts of sunlight
hours ranging between 7 hours per day in winters and more than 11 hours per day in mid-summers. There are six kinds of renewable energy categories and 12 technology options available
for the easy production of electricity from solar energy. These renewable sources include solar
thermal technologies, Photovoltaic power plant technology, Photovoltaic grid-connected distributed technology, solar water desalination technology, wind energy technology and solar cooling
technology (Mathieson 2009).
The technologies that could be applied for the generation of the renewable energy included solar thermal technology. This includes the use of parabolic trough; Gas combined cycle parabolic
trough hybrid, power towers, parabolic dish stirling engine and Fresnel panels.
Another technique of power generation is through Photovoltaic power plants technology and
these include Land-based Utility scale PV. The use of photovoltaic Grid connected distributed
technology consisted of commercial roof-top systems, residential roof-top systems. The solar
cooling technology includes the use of compound parabolic collectors and Absorption Chiller
system. Wind Energy technology is based on Class 4 wind speeds. Solar assisted water desalination technology consisted of compound parabolic collectors with MSF desalination system and
solar thermal powers and RO system (Mathieson 2009).
The Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) in Kuwait reported that the energy demands of
the nation will be tripled till 2030 and the previously employed methods of generating energy
i.e. through fossil fuels and water desalination will be insufficient to meet the high demand of
energy. Hence, Kuwait has established various pilot projects to raise their capacity of building
cost-effective energy from a renewable energy source. A 100 kwp photovoltaic test platform has
been developed that features panels and inverters and a Salmi Mini-wind Farm was established
to measure the performance of small-sized wind turbines on and off-grid and a multi-technology Shagaya Renewable Energy Park is also established with an expected energy output of 70
megawatt. A hydrogen plant is also designed using photovoltaic panels of 10 kilowatts and wind
turbines of 6 kilowatts for producing and storing hydrogen. This plant is being used to develop
energy management technologies for cost-reduction and increasing the reliability of renewable
sources (Pregger 2009).

Methodology
A Qualitative research study was conducted and secondary content analysis was performed to assess the efficiency of solar panels in power generation. A detailed analysis of the selected research
studies have been performed to find out the benefits associated with the use of solar photovoltaic cells in generating electricity. Only those studies were included in this literature review, which
were performed within the last five years. Moreover, those studies were included, which focused
on analysing the efficiency of solar panels apart from other solar technologies.

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ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy