ReviewSustainable water and energy in Gaza Strip
Section snippets
1. Introduction
Gaza Strip is 360 km2 with a high-density population of about 3823 persons/km2 [1] (most of the people in Gaza Strip are the generations of the refugees who fled their homes in the 1948 and 1967 Arab–Israeli wars [2]), so Gaza Strip represents one of the most densely populated areas.
There is now a water crisis in Gaza Strip. According to one estimate, the people of Gaza over-pump approximately 160 million cubic meters (MCM) of water from the coastal aquifer per year, but the sustainable yield of
Optimum solution
Water problems are not local; they extend into the neighboring regions. For example, in the Gaza Strip, aquifer is readily deteriorating due to its fast depletion, and this will have serious impacts on the coastal plain aquifer within Israel itself. This is due to the strong probability that there exists an interchange between the two [5]. If long-term needs of Gaza Strip are to be taken into account, sustainable resources of both water and energy should be secured. We will demonstrate an
Environmental
Fossil fuels are nonrenewable sources of energy, they have adverse impacts on the environment, and their supply is finite. Burning fossil fuels is the largest single source of pollution in the atmosphere. The combustion of fossil fuels produces air pollutants including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbon compounds, carbon monoxide and particulate matter. In the atmosphere, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are converted into sulfuric acid and nitric acid, the components of acid rain.
Co-generation (energy and water) plant
The proposed co-generation plant has a water capacity of 100 MCM/year and a power capacity of 2.5 billion kWh/year. This plant will be built in three stages. The power and water capacities that will be reached in each stage and the expected time are illustrated in Table 1. The total area needed for the project is approximately 13 km2, since 5 km2 is required for the collector field to produce 1 TWh/year of electricity [9], [10].
The eastern border of the Gaza Strip is a suitable location for this
Technical details
Solar thermal co-generation plant consists of three major parts (subsystems): the solar field, the power plant, and the seawater desalination plant. Fig. 4 shows schematic chart for the solar thermal co-generation process and the interactions between the three major parts [12].
Concentrate (brine) disposal
There are different options for the disposal of the concentrate rejects: disposal to a wastewater plant, deep-well injection, co-locating with an existing power or wastewater treatment plant, and submarine ocean outfalls.
Disposal to wastewater plant: In this method, the concentrate is discharged to the sewer system; but precautions should be taken to insure that the wastewater treatment plant can still meet water quality standards after the addition of the reject concentrate. This may require
The cost
The cost of the project includes the system used such as: parabolic trough, steam turbine, electricity generators, multi-stage desalination and infrastructure (roads, pipe lines, power transmission, etc.). Besides that there are the operation and maintenance costs.
Estimation for the total cost of a plant with capacities of 100 MCM/year for water and 2.5 billion kWh/year for the power is approximately 1.1–1.3 billion US$. This estimation depended on a paper, presented at the MENAREC conference in
Conclusions
Solving the problem of water in Gaza Strip is an urgent humanitarian need and it should not be part of the regional politics.
The co-generation plant powered by solar energy seems to be an ideal solution for solving Gaza Strip problems. Abundance fresh water can combat desertification and trigger the economic development of arid regions. Besides that expansion of the plant to higher capacities in the future so that water and energy can be exported to the neighbors will bring economical benefits
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Friends of the Earth Middle East; Ed Hamlyn, The University of Texas at El Paso; Dr. Franz Trieb, Institute of Technical Thermodynamics, German Aerospace Center and all the people that supported us in this project. This work is part of the Center for Environmental Resource Management (CERM) at the University of Texas at El Paso. The US State Department Agreement S-ECAPE-04-GR-120 (DH) “Good Water Neighbors Community Planning Studies” and NSF ADVANCE grant helped to fund
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2023, Journal of Advanced ResearchCitation Excerpt :The results have shown that the PTC-LT-MED is thermodynamically more efficient than the CSP-RO, with a smaller solar field requirements at the same power and water output. In Gaza strip, Hamdan et al. reported that water scarcity could be solved using a co-generation plant that produces both freshwater and energy [238]. The co-generation plant can be powered either via fossil fuels or solar energy.
Thermodynamic analysis of hybrid cycles based on a regenerative steam Rankine cycle for cogeneration and trigeneration
2018, Energy Conversion and ManagementCitation Excerpt :These authors concluded that seawater desalination using CSPs provide affordable, sustainable and secure large-scale freshwater to supply the growing fresh water demands in these regions. Other investigations assessed the potential of combined CSP-desalination in different regions such as the Gaza strip in Mediterranean region [18], in New Mexico, USA [19], and in Oman [20]. Alexopoulos and Hoffschmidt [21] discussed the possible development of combined solar power tower and desalination plants in Greece and Cyprus.
Characterisation of the coupling of multi-effect distillation plants toconcentrating solar power plants
2015, EnergyCitation Excerpt :They concluded that seawater desalination based on concentrating solar power offers affordable, sustainable and secure freshwater potentials that are large enough to cope with the growing deficits in the above mentioned locations. Other works have proved the potential of CSP + D in specific locations: Gaza strip [10], New Mexico [11], Oman [12], SE Spain [13] and Abu Dhabi [14]. Economic studies have also been reported.
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2013, Applied Thermal EngineeringCitation Excerpt :They concluded that seawater desalination based on concentrating solar power offers affordable, sustainable and secure fresh water potentials that are large enough to cope with the growing deficits in the Mediterranean and MENA region. Other works have proved the potential of CSP + D in specific locations: Gaza Strip [27], New Mexico [28], Oman [29] and SE Spain [30]. Economic studies have also been reported.