ASSESSMENT OF A POTENTIAL SOLAR

POWER PLANT SITE IN AD-DALI (YEMEN) TO

REDUCE ITS SEVERE ENERGY POVERTY
Ahmed Jameel Abdullah, Alfian Preastanto, Narae Maeng

INTRODUCTION SYSTEM DESIGN Substation and Connection To The Grid

• Yemen’s electricity is less than 50% of the minimum demand.  PV Panel - Trina Solar TSM-DEG14(II)
• Junction box – connection with The 3-phase output of 7 units
Configuration A and 1 unit of Configuration B
• The solar technical potential is 2000 TWh/Year, and if only %1 • One of the top ten brands which ensure the product quality
• 3-phase transformer - 440V/33kV with capacity of 6.2 MVA
of that potential would supply double Yemen’s minimum • One of the most common existing brands in Yemen
demand. Figure 5. Location of the site and 33kV substation
(RCREEE, 2017)
• The World Bank is funding this proposed solar project (72,600 • Resistant to sand - Double glass frame
Technical Specification for Trina
m2) in a rural area at Ad-Dali (fed to 33KV to surrounding Table 1. Technical Specification
Solar TSM-DEG14(II) for TSM-DEG14(II)
governorates). Test Condition STC NOCT
Power Output (W) 375 279
Module Efficiency (%) 19.1
Vmp (V) 40 37.1
SOLAR MARKET STATUS Imp (A) 9.39 7.54
Figure 1. Electricity generation by fuel in Yemen (IEA, 2019) Voc (V) 47.5 44.1
Isc (A) 9.71 7.84

 Total Number of Panels and Array Rated Power

 Assessment of Yemen’s progress in solar energy
• 211 panels per row x 84 rows → 17,724 panels
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
• The minimum row distance: 0.89m (to avoid 7 am to 5 pm at
• Avoid 3,453,162 litres per year of diesel which can emit
the winter solstice)
9,286.5 metric tons CO2 per year
• Peak Power : 6.65 MWp
• Avoid 185,730 metric tons CO2 for 20 years.
Table 2. Annual energy production comparison for tracking systems

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Figure 2. Assessment of
• Total Capital cost : £ 10,151,763.22
Yemen’s progress in Figure 6. Capital Cost Structure
renewable energy
according to the 4
evaluation categories:
Market Structure, Policy • Non-tracking system
Framework, Finance and
Investment, and - The largest total power rating and annual energy production
Institutional Capacity. in comparison with tracking systems [See Table 2]
(RCREEE, 2016)
 Inverter - SMA Sunny Central 720CP Grid Tied Inverter
 Economic Incentives
• Centralized
• Yemen lacks the policies needed to incentivize the
• All values of each configurations are fulfilling the inverter
population to promote huge solar energy deployment. Annual Energy Production [kWh] 13,432,225
requirements [See Table 3]
• The current incentive is driven by the severe energy Table 3. Status of each configuration for Inverter Input
Electricity Tariff (LCOE of Diesel Generator) [£/kWh] £ 0.277
Annual Income (tariff x energy) £ 3,725,594.32
poverty under the absence of adequate quantities of gas Inverter Configuration Configuration
Inverter SC 720CP XT
Limitation A B • Result: £ IRR of 32%, NPV of £8,002,107.26, and payback
and oil due to the political instability in Yemen
Max. DC Power [kW] 808 821.25 897.75 period of 4.81 years
Min. DC Voltage [V] 485 522 626 Table 4. Discounted Cash Flow
 Economic & Social
Typical PV Voltage [V] 545 654
Impact of Solar Reduce
• Air-pollution Max. DC Voltage (Inverter) [V] 1000 753 904
Energy Expansion in
• Black-outs & fire accidents Max. Operating Input Current per MPPT [A] 1400 1368 1246.2
Yemen • Poverty
• Sanitary system pollution (pumps)
Max. Input Short-circuit Current per MPPT [A] 2500 1442.5 1314

• 7 sets of configuration A and 1 set of configuration B [See

Enhance
• New jobs & society welfare
Figure 4]
• Energy insecurity / Access to electricity Figure 4. Configuration A (top) and Configuration B (bottom) for
• Educational environment for students PV panel
• Agriculture (Solar pumps)

 Technical Regulations CONCLUSION

ISO 9001,CE, TUV, IEC 61730, IEC 61215, and ISO 14001 • Fixed tracking has the biggest annual energy production
compared to system with tracking systems in this
 Statistics On Solar Projects project.
• Annual energy of 14,432,225 kWh will be produced
Figure 3. Percentage of population that uses PV solar in Yemen’s annually with depreciation rate of 0.5%
governorates (PERCENT, 2018) • This solar power plant can avoid 185,730 metric tons
CO2 for 20 years
• This project is profitable because it has IRR bigger than
discount rate and it has positive NPV

References
• IEA, 2019. The International Energy Agency. [Online] Available at:
 Similar Projects https://www.iea.org/countries/Yemen/
• PERCENT, 2018. HALF OF YEMENIS HAVE SOLAR PANELS. [Online] Available at:
http://www.percentyemen.org/ [Accessed 13 March 2019].
All the currently available solar capacity is for small scale off- • RCREEE, 2016. The Arab Future Energy Index , Cairo: Regional Center for
grid projects, this report is for a first-of-its-kind project in Yemen Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.
to supply to the grid, making this report of a great interest to • RCREEE, 2017. Assessment of the status of solar PV in Yemen , Cairo: The Regional
Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.
the government as well as future investors in the country.

University of Edinburgh
School of Engineering
2019