EU-GCC Clean Energy Network

EU-GCC Clean Energy Network

Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Volume 7, Issue 2

About the Guest Editors

Dr Haris Doukas is a Mechanical Engineer (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – AUTH, 2003), holding a PhD degree on the decision support systems for the sustainable energy sector’s operation (National Technical University of Athens – NTUA, 2009). Dr Doukas is an elected faculty member, as Lecturer in the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering, NTUA (2011). His areas of expertise include the development of models and decision support systems for energy and environmental policy, at the local, national level and international cooperation. In addition, he has been involved in a number of research projects as a project manager/ energy expert in the fields of energy and environmental policy and modelling, development & administration of decision support systems, as well as in related lectures and training seminars. In the abovementioned fields, he has more than 50 scientific publications in international journals, announcements in international conferences, chapters in books, etc. For his work, Dr Doukas has received awards by the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY), the NTUA, the AUTH, the Technical Chamber of Greece (TCG), etc.

Dr Alexandros Flamos is Assistant Professor in the University of Piraeus (UNIPI). He has a Degree on Electrical and Computer Engineering and a PhD on decision support systems for Energy Systems Appraisal. He is teaching energy management, engineering economics, energy technologies, energy policy and techno-economics of energy at graduate and post graduate level at UNIPI and NTUA. He has over 15 years working experience in the scientific areas of DSS, energy management & planning and their applications for analyzing energy policy, security of supply and energy pricing competitiveness. He has held the position of scientific coordinator / manager / senior researcher in more than 20 EU funded projects (EC R&D FP5, FP6, FP7, Synergy, Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE), EuropeAid Tacis, MEDA, ENPI, etc.) related to energy systems management, appraisal, planning, etc. He has more than 60 publications in high impact international scientific journals and international conferences and as invited speaker in major International energy policy cooperation events.

Dr John Psarras is Professor in the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and the Director of the Decision Support Systems (DSS) Laboratory. He is holding a PhD on Multi-objective Mathematical Programming applied to energy and environmental systems. He has been the Manager or Senior Researcher in numerous EC and national projects for over 25 years in the areas of energy policy, national and regional energy planning, energy and environmental modelling, promotion of energy and environmentally friendly technologies, energy management, decision support and monitoring systems. He has more than 150 scientific publications in international journals and conferences and many articles published in magazines, journals and books.

The EU-GCC Clean Energy Network has been founded to respond to the common interests of stakeholders, both in the GCC and the EU, active in the field of clean energy. The EU-GCC Clean Energy Network is the practical instrument for development of concrete cooperation activities on clean energy, including the related policy and technology aspects, among various players across the EU and GCC countries. Within the network, five discussion groups are operable, focusing on areas of common EU and GCC interest, specifically: Renewable Energy Sources, Energy Demand Side Management and Energy Efficiency, Clean Natural Gas and Related Clean Technologies, Electricity Interconnections and Market Integration, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

Aim of this Special Issue is to provide structured information and comprehensive studies, based on the results obtained from the collaboration of EU and GCC stakeholders, in issues related with energy efficiency and sustainability.

In this Special Issue, seven articles were included, presenting the recent developments and current trends on clean energy issues with emphasis on EU-GCC collaboration. Status, prospects and challenges for natural gas, renewables, energy efficiency and other clean energy technologies are presented systematically, while issues of energy policy and legislation are also analyzed.

The issue opens with the article of Dr Ferroukhi et al., investigating the efforts undertaken by the GCC countries in deploying renewable energy, in terms of capacity assessments, research and development activities, and current and planned projects. The paper also identifies and assesses several drivers and barriers for the diffusion of renewable energy technologies in the GCC, based on a “per country” basel.

Dr Papadopoulou et al., continue with an analysis of the state of play on energy efficiency with regards to policy, legislation and technological issues in the EU and the GCC. Specific collaboration proposals between the two regions are being elaborated, while the input from a large number of dedicated meetings, bilateral interviews and questionnaires has been exploited. The work provides solid collaboration modules between the EU and GCC on energy efficiency, through an active participation of experts from both sides.

In the next paper, Mr Yessian et al., summarizes the main results of two studies performed for the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research to develop a strategy for evaluating and promoting clean energy technologies including renewables and nuclear energy. In the first the economic feasibility of developing and deploying a civil nuclear power program as one element of a strategy to meet future electricity generation and fresh waters needs over the coming decades is evaluated while in the second the economic feasibility of renewable energy to contribute to the power and desalination needs of the country has been assessed.

Dr Darwish presents a study with measures on how to conserve energy in Qatar, saving the nation’s main income from natural gas and fuel oil. This paper is concerned with energy resources, production, and consumption in Qatar; and their footprints in the main sectors of electric power (EP) and desalted seawater (DW) production, industry and buildings. The EP and DW generating inefficiencies, and the high EP consumptions by buildings, and their environmental impact are also discussed.

The next paper by Dr Doukas et al. aims to provides the prospects and challenges of the EU and GCC cooperation for Natural Gas (NG), based on a “critical review” of the current state of the GCC region regarding NG production, consumption, trading movements, the respective policy framework and existing/under construction projects, planned projects or programs for each GCC country individually. The presented approach and the related outcomes support the policy makers to enable the environment needed for concrete NG cooperation actions of mutual benefit for both regions.

Further on, Dr Kanudia et al. present an innovative methodology, based in the MARKAL-TIMES technical economic partial equilibrium bottom up modelling framework, dealing with two main issues of the global energy system, climate change mitigation and security. This particular study proposes a new general method to quantify linearly the supply risk of an energy system and a new global multiregional model with the supply details by country and corridor, providing the ability to build ex ante scenarios, which are more secure compared to the so far prevailing methodology of ex post evaluation.

In the last article, Dr Theeyattuparampil et al. review the state of play of Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) in the GCC region, in the light of the lack of a coordinated environmental regulation to cap the future carbon emissions, and investigate the opportunities and challenges facing the CCS development for the case of the United Arab Emirates; the latter in based on bilateral interviews. The article offers GCC policymakers relevant insights into how best to develop CCS projects for the GCC region.

As Guest Editors, we do hope that this Special Issue, presenting an indicative part of the scientific work carried out so far, within the network, will contribute to the wide dissemination of clean energy opportunities for EU-GCC clean energy cooperation, as well as trigger further the interest to enhance such collaborative efforts.

Haris Doukas, Alexandros Flamos, John PsarrasGuest Editors