Towards Energy Conservation in Qatar

Abstract

Qatar energy consumptions are among the highest in the world, and can easily serve double the present population. Energy conservation is a must, as the energy resources are finite, and their consumptions are increasing at alarming rates. The country depends on desalted seawater, which consumes extensive amounts of energy, and is produced by using the least energy efficient desalting system. The desalination process is vulnerable to many factors, and strategic water storage needs to be built. The high energy consumptions are ruining the air and marine environments. Several suggestions are introduced to conserve energy in the Cogeneration Power Desalting Plants (CPDP), by moving to replace the Multi Stage Flash (MSF) desalting system by the energy efficient Seawater Reverse Osmosis System (SWRO); fully utilizing the installed power capacity to desalt water in winter, when electric power load is low , and during summer non-peak hours for strategic water storage; and modify ing the simple Gas Turbines (GT) Power cycle plants to GT combined cycle to raise the Electric Power (EP) generation efficiency (to about 50%).