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Why Solar Power Won’t Work in Kuwait

Was watching a video on BBC on How plants can lessen the impact of dust storms in Kuwait when I spotted the scene pictured above. Too bad Kuwait canceled its plans for a nuclear power plant…

32 replies on “Why Solar Power Won’t Work in Kuwait”

Panels in kuwait actually work just fine and they’re actually quite effective but regardless of weather conditions they would have to be cleaned about an average of 5-7 times a year. I did some research for a project with KISR and KFAS on PV technology adoption and implementation and i suppose that’s how i know.

To add to that, they actually still work even when they’re covered in dust they just don’t produce energy as effeciently.

Abu Dhabi is building (already built maybe) state of the art Solar energy farm in the region. Its climate is more or less the same as Kuwait. Focus on the greater good than shying away from little housekeeping.

I’ve studied it in the uni, they’re afraid because kuwait is simply too small for a nuclear station. Putting nuclear waste aside, if a catastrophe happens it’d hit the whole country and might even reach some areas and parts of Saudi Arabia.

Your either absolutely wrong or the humor doesn’t come across in your poor post. A guy cleans my car nearly every other day for only KD 5 a month. You think Kuwait can’t supply a couple hundred laborers?

I get what you are saying about solar not being able to supply the power hungry of Kuwait. But your post title here, “Why Solar Power Won’t Work in Kuwait”, and logic with the corresponding photo doesn’t compute.

I get your logic that solar wouldn’t supply all of Kuwait’s power needs. But the post title and corresponding photo doesn’t compute. A solar farm is set up to be maintained regularly.

The dust on my car is washed every other day for KD 5 a month. Kuwait has plenty of laborers.

Kuwait still has plenty of laborers.With the way the actual government moves your car wash might just become a little more expensive due to shortage in cheap laborers.
And by the way the wastage of water due to the cleaning of the cars at home, especially for the locals when the cleaning guy just hoses down the entire street not only the cars, is just another way of wasting energy. Kuwait gets the water from the sea through distillation, that renders the energy producing process less effective and increases the cost of it.
Government is subsidizing a lot the electricity and water, which is a mistake in my opinion everyone should pay for whatever is consuming without discrimination or preferential, that`s why you pay only 5KD per month for cleaning your car.

The photo from the BBC video made me wonder, would NASA’s Mars rover survive if it caught of one Kuwait’s major dust storms 🙂 It’s solar panels will not collect energy anymore.

On dusty Solar panels die. Usually all projects come with daily evening cleaning. It’s like any electronic circuit.. of wire is cut no electricity will go throw .. and other point they need to move with sunshine and here is bigger problem .. because mechanism parts got broken faster with dust

You mean to say coal or diesel power plants are maintenance free? They require more than a dusting guy to operate and run. Remember the fact Solar energy is free to harness. Every damn equipment requires maintenance.

I’ll watch he video later, but let me guess it says the dust will prevent full efficiency and make it a bad idea…?

There’s now technology where wipers are installed on the upper edge of the panels and they just swipe very time interval to clean the panels, not much water is wasted since it’s the swiping that does most of the cleaning
There’s also many types of solar energy, and not all depend on pv panels… Some reflect and magnify the sun rays to heat up a fluid which is then used as a heat source for the power cycle. This example could be useful in Kuwait since the country already has a hot climate.

The Japanese and Germans have the highest discipline in processes and maintaining technology/Infrastructure for decades. Despite this, the Japanese had the nuclear disaster due to the tsunami.

In a country where basic infrastructure cannot be maintained (roads, hospitals, day-to-day services), are we going to trust a nuclear plant being maintained and that too in the proximity of a war zone? I think not.

It’s not just trust… The country isn’t even ready for it, the country doesn’t even need it, and the country will struggle in acquiring all the needed factors to make it run if they even try

Nuclear fission reactors are good at producing energy, but very bad for the environment due to the waste; I don`t want to get into nuclear accidents issue (Chernobyl , Fukushima etc)
Are solar panels an alternative for large scale energy generation, maybe in future when the conversion ratio of the photo-voltaic cells improves, until then home use or street lighting will do. And definitely the idea will not work in Kuwait not because of the dust but because of people education in spending energy.
The future is most probably the nuclear fusion rector, a cleaner alternative to nuclear fission, which slowly starts to come to life, this is where i`ll bet my money.

https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/nuclear-fusion-power.aspx

One of the largest companies in Kuwait, the only MNC operating from Kuwait, has a solar powered building, the panels are dust proof and is working in good condition. It is a live example.

There are a few technologies for self cleaning panels. Some clean themselves with sound vibrations, some have a dust and water repellant coating. There might be other technologies as well.

It means, the solar panel has a transparent frame kind of coating that will not allow layers of dust to sit over it, thus giving way to a cleaner solar panel. The recent dust in the last three days, was too much, but these panels were able to withstand the dust.

It just makes a lot of sense from a theoretical point of view because Solar Power or energy from the sun is what makes the earth’s natural cycles work. Without solar energy no life on earth would be sustainable. It’s a matter of inventing artificial ways of capturing that energy and capitalizing on its benefits. With enough technological adoption, PV panels will gradually pick up the slack with more ‘upgrades’ and improvements in efficiency. I guess it’s a matter of starting somewhere.

Solar/Nuclear Energy to power an entire (or part) of this “high-energy consuming resource hungry nation” like Kuwait is sure a mammoth challenge. One can only imagine what the Kuwait officials must be going through debating all of this. This post itself seems to have attracted some great feedback and debate.

Given the fact that in Kuwait every house has maids and buildings & business that have cleaners (who can clean a few panels everyday/week 🙂 ….

I’d say, if only every house, buildings and business in Kuwait installs a couple of Solar Panels to power a few home & garden & passage lights only and take just a 20% burden off the Govt. wouldn’t that be great?

Add a green Energy Conservation Education Drive to save another 20% of Electricity and Water. I think this should work great for starters!

This is what is really needed in Kuwait. It’s better to invest Govt. money here in educating and building this initiative then on figuring out how to invest BILLIONS to meet the ever increasing needs of a resource hungry population.

It’s a blessing to have cheap Electricity & Water in Kuwait, but (like someone said it above) a lot of people abuse & misuse & waste these resources, including FUEL!

There actually is a project that was initiated by KFAS last year that put 150 houses that are powered by solar energy and it is currently under trial, they are also looking to increase the number of houses to 1500 at a later stage in 2018.

Also, Kuwait Oil Company recently opened “Sidra 500” which is a solar farm that will generate all the power needed for the operations on Um Qudair field and it currently producing 10 MW half of which is also going to other ministries.

For those interested click on the articles below.

https://news.kuwaittimes.net/website/kuwait-produce-solar-power-house-roofs/

https://news.kuwaittimes.net/website/koc-cost-sedra-500-project-stands-27-m/

I have lived in Kuwait 40yrs and worked in the Building Industry.
Kuwait will be the Most Successful Country with Solar Power Use.All Villas which consume 30-40 % of Power-can be made self Sustaining- Kuwait compliance of Rules is so good that * Once a rule is approved by the Municipality,its followed 100%.

All Villa have enough Roof Space to accommodation Solar Panels and could provide Shade for the Servant Rooms & Mechanical Rooms (Saving Cost if designed well) which are generally located on Roof.

A Serious study and Prototype of *FIXED COST SOLAR KIT*(QUALITY CONTROLLED ) for Villas will be welcome by Kuwaiti Clients.Quality Controlled Products if used will help Kuwait Reduce the burden slowly and rather help supply to the grid.

Cleaning of Panels is a NON-ISSUE as Dust Storms are limited to certain seasons only. A normal maintenance & cleaning is only needed-except for few ( may be 10 days max ) where dust will cover the sky for few hours.

Kuwait should push and adopt Solar Energy in a Big Way and set up Renewable Source to conserve the Oil Reserves.

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