Assistance to low-carbon innovation

The scientific sessions of the international conference «Solar Energy Horizons in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Applications and Challenges,» organized by the university, represented by the College of Engineering, discussed a number of themes, research, and scientific studies on its first day, Wednesday, 24/4/1442 AH, with the participation of many academics and researchers in solar energy applications and industry experts in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and worldwide remotely.
The first scientific sessions of the conference were held under the title “Generating Electric Power from Solar Energy.” Dr. Emad Shams presented a research paper titled “Solving the Maximum Power Point Tracking Problem Using Swarm Intelligence Inspired Algorithms,” in which he discussed methods for tracking the maximum power point of solar energy to ensure the photovoltaic system operates optimally, considering costs. Afterward, Dr. Ahmed Eid spoke about his paper titled “The Impact of Distributed Solar Power Generation on Power Loss and Voltage Stability of Distribution Grids,” where he discussed integrating distributed solar power generators with distribution grids to reduce active power loss and enhance voltage stability.
Next, Dr. Hamid Mohammed presented a paper titled “Evaluation of the Operating Conditions of Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells for Frequency Distribution in Riyadh City.” He emphasized that the performance of photovoltaic cells varies under outdoor field conditions and can be better analyzed using frequency distribution under different operating conditions. The purpose of this study was to find the most common operating conditions for photovoltaic cells that can be used for planning, designing, and sizing photovoltaic power plants. Dr. Rubmati Mena also spoke about his paper, “Degradation of Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells Under Hot Climate Conditions.” He revealed that crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells are prone to defects and degradation under hot climate conditions, such as in desert areas that suffer from multiple environmental stresses, high temperatures, and UV radiation, in addition to changes in temperature and humidity with gas ingress. These stress factors can lead to structural, thermomechanical, and chemical changes within the photovoltaic cell that affect its electrical performance.
Then, Dr. Manahil Mohammed spoke with a paper titled “Solar Energy as an Alternative to Electrical Energy in the Vision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2030.” She discussed the opinions of the Saudi people on using solar energy as an alternative to electrical energy in homes. Researchers applied a questionnaire containing 216 samples from different segments of society. The questionnaire consists of four parts. When the sample was asked about the necessity of using renewable energy sources to generate electricity instead of generating it from oil derivatives, 88.8% of the sample agreed. When asked about the most suitable source among renewable energy sources for investment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 93% recommended solar energy. Of the sample, 19% currently use solar energy at home, and 88.9% strongly agree that government contributions in supporting the costs of solar energy technologies will encourage citizens to adopt solar energy.
At the end of the session, Dr. Hisham Othman spoke about his paper titled “Thermal Characteristics of Parabolic Trough Collectors (A Comparative Study).” He emphasized that parabolic troughs have been commercially proven to be the most advanced among concentrated solar power technologies, as operating temperatures can reach between 350-550 degrees Celsius in parabolic troughs. Solar power plants using parabolic troughs can also produce between 5 and 280 megawatts.
The scientific sessions of the conference continued through a session entitled “Desalination using solar energy”, where Dr. Qazi Bari spoke about his research entitled “Porous column type solar desalination unit”, in which he addressed the sources of high-quality potable water that are rapidly diminishing in many urban and rural areas of the world, especially in the Middle East, Africa and Asia for many reasons, and the removal of salinity and impurities in raw water by any traditional method is still expensive, so the researcher and decision makers tried all possible cost-effective alternatives, and one low-cost method to produce.
Dr. Zakaria Amara then discussed his study titled “Solar Distillation with a Rotating Wheel for Water Desalination: A Comparative Study.” He explained that the back wall of the distiller is unutilized and that significant heat loss occurs through it. Therefore, a metal disc was installed on a horizontal shaft driven by an electric motor. The rotating disc is located in the middle of the back wall, increasing the evaporation area and the area exposed to solar radiation. As the disc rotates, it becomes covered with a thin film of water, which helps speed up evaporation. Dr. Abdullah Naguib then presented his research titled “Solar Water Desalination Using Multi-Effect Membrane Distillation: Laboratory Results.” This work addressed the performance of a solar-powered water desalination system using the membrane distillation process. The system consists of photovoltaic solar panels, solar thermal collectors, and a membrane distillation unit. The latter relies on multi-effect membrane distillation, where thermal energy is recycled and reused in the system during condensation cooling.
Dr. Abdul Qadir Abdullah, in turn, presented a research titled “The Effect of Adding Trays on the Performance of Solar Distillation, An Experimental Approach.” The productivity of solar desalination units is proportional to the water depth and the wetted surface area within the unit. The unit’s productivity can be increased by increasing the surface area of the basin. To maintain the minimum possible water depth within the unit, we used trays. Two desalination units were designed and manufactured: the first unit is of a traditional type, and the second is a modified unit with trays. Research experiments were designed, manufactured, and conducted for the modified desalination unit with the aim of improving productivity. Additionally, it was designed according to safety standards. The goal of this work is to increase freshwater productivity through some changes in the unit’s design, where we obtained an increase in the productivity of the tray desalination unit by approximately 45% compared to the traditional unit. The daily efficiency was 47% and 34% for the tray desalination unit and the traditional unit, respectively.
The first day of the conference concluded with a scientific session titled “Materials Used in Solar Energy Applications.” The session featured Dr. Nazek Al-Ataab presenting a paper titled “Highly Flexible, Stretchable, Lightweight, and High-Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.” The study emphasized the significant and growing demand for unmanned aerial vehicles due to their wide range of applications, including, but not limited to, agricultural inspection, firefighting, and border security. While current electric-powered drones are common, equipping them with solar energy technology could enable them to undertake longer flights and carry heavier payloads. However, most currently available solar cells are either too heavy, too rigid, too expensive, or not efficient enough for drone platforms. This necessitates the development of lightweight, highly flexible, and stretchable solar cells with high efficiency, which can perfectly conform to the curved and foldable surfaces of drones without affecting flight aerodynamics.
Dr. Rupmati Meena, presenting his paper titled “Investigation of different types of defects in newly manufactured crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules”, said that solar photovoltaic cells have recently become a promising renewable energy technology, and solar energy is being utilized all over the world. However, photovoltaic cells face many manufacturing stage defects even before actual use, and these defects not only affect the performance of the cells, but are likely to cause severe performance degradation within a few years of field operation After that, Dr. Sadek spoke about a research paper entitled “Design, fabrication and testing of low-cost flat panel collectors under the climate of central Qassim”, during which he emphasized that energy is the main basis for economic, technical and social development, and with the increasing global awareness of energy challenges, solar energy has been given great attention as a promising solution to energy issues, and in this research a small-sized, naturally circulating, low-cost solar collector with a solar receiving aperture of 0. 75 square meters was designed and fabricated in this research.The solar collector was tested to heat 20 liters of water during the day in the city of Unaiza from October 18 to November 4. 75 square meters at the College of Engineering in Unaiza, Qassim University, and the collector was tested to heat 20 liters of water during the day.
At the conclusion of the session, Dr. Mohamed Moussa presented his paper titled “Inorganic Metal Halide Perovskites AMX3 as Promising Candidate Materials for Future Photovoltaic Solar Cell Technologies,” in which he emphasized that since the first appearance of photovoltaic solar cells in 1976, many scientists have made enormous efforts to improve the performance and increase the efficiency of traditional photovoltaic solar cells. A range of inorganic semiconductors have been used to manufacture photovoltaic solar cells, such as amorphous silicon, monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon, and crystalline thin films. For his part, Dr. Mohammed bin Rabaha spoke about his paper titled “Silicon Nanowires for Photovoltaic Applications,” pointing out that chemical etching based on silver nanoparticles is a very modern and advanced method used to form nanowires (nanoscale) on the surface of monocrystalline silicon wafers.