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KSA Solar

overpop
overpop Member Posts: 52
in Solar
Doing an interesting job here in Saudi Arabia. My job is to build a mock up of old insulation technology vs. new technology in a showcase house setting. Our room is like a museum with displays and our display is being built on site (concrete blocks, styrofoam forms, mixed concrete pours), This house is built with solar technology. What's weird (everything is weird here) is that in the attic where all of the piping and mechanical is, nothing is quite straight, none of the soldier joints are black instead of shiny, pex is grey, and there are pipe connectors that I have never seen before. Even the electrical conduit when running side by side and makes a bend, none of the bends match each other. Typical here though. I am used to spending countless hours in television studios in NYC where electrical and plumbing unions do perfect installs and their piping is art. Anyway, you'd think solar would dominate a land where clouds pretty much don't exist. Oh, I forgot, there's this black stuff under the sand...

Comments

  • overpop
    overpop Member Posts: 52
    correction: all of the soldier joints are black...
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 23,242
    Fun job!

    There is a big push for solar as in PV over there with 50% of their electricity coming from oil in 2011.

    There was talk of 100% renewables within 10 year, they seemed to have backed off from that date a bit.

    SWE magazine is a good one to keep up on global RE projects.
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • Paul48
    Paul48 Member Posts: 4,469
    I've been looking at concentrated solar lately. Electricity and heat, with temperatures generated at the focal point of 700+*. Use that to run a stirling engine, which then runs a generator.
  • Quercus
    Quercus Member Posts: 61
    perhaps they know something we don't know?
    overpop said:

    Oh, I forgot, there's this black stuff under the sand...

  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,501
    In that environment you'd be crazy not to use solar, it's not like they don't have room for it.

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
  • Quercus
    Quercus Member Posts: 61
    In that environment you would also be crazy not to use oil or gas. I admire their decision to go in that direction. I hear a lot of criticism of alternative energy here because of payback period. What do you suppose the payback is in a country with extremely low fuel prices?

    My point is that they seem to recognize the finite nature of the resource.
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 23,242
    Well you know what they say about talk.


    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2015/may/22/saudi-arabias-solar-for-oil-plan-is-a-ray-of-hope
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,501
    They can get fuel dirt cheap and they can sell it to someone for a nice fat profit so you would have to compare the cost of solar to the cost they can sell the oil for.

    I agree they know oil won't last forever.

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 23,242
    I had some PV offered to me at 59 cents a watt! I think they know it's a good time to buy low on PV and leave the oil in the ground for higher profits down the road.
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • Paul48
    Paul48 Member Posts: 4,469
    That's a good price if they aren't poly-crystalline, made in China.
  • overpop
    overpop Member Posts: 52
    Hot Rod, that's where I'm working! They have a solar mirror array and a tower here. All mirrors pointing straight up as someone was working on the tower. But, I thought, what if someone accidentally activates the mirrors? Things happen here in KSA and things aren't always done right.
  • jumper
    jumper Member Posts: 2,384
    Why insulate if 100% is solar? If energy is free then who cares how much you need?

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