Research Article
An Overview of Smart Grids in the GCC Region
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-319-33681-7_25, author={İslam Bayram and Hamed Mohsenian-Rad}, title={An Overview of Smart Grids in the GCC Region}, proceedings={Smart City 360°. First EAI International Summit, Smart City 360°, Bratislava, Slovakia and Toronto, Canada, October 13-16, 2015. Revised Selected Papers}, proceedings_a={SMARTCITY360}, year={2016}, month={6}, keywords={Smart grids Gulf Cooperation Council Qatar Bahrain Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Kuwait Oman United Arab Emirates (UAE)}, doi={10.1007/978-3-319-33681-7_25} }- İslam Bayram
Hamed Mohsenian-Rad
Year: 2016
An Overview of Smart Grids in the GCC Region
SMARTCITY360
Springer
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-33681-7_25
Abstract
The members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), namely Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and United Arab Emirates (UAE), are facing challenges to meet the growing electricity demand and reduce the associated hydrocarbon emissions. Recently, there has been a pressing need for a shift towards smart power grids, as smart grids can reduce the stress on the grid, defer the investments for upgrades, improve the power system efficiency, and reduce emissions. Accordingly, the goal of this paper is to delineate an overview of current smart grid efforts in the GCC region. First, we present a detailed overview of the current state of the power grids. Then, we classify the efforts into three broad categories: (i) energy trading and exchange through GCC interconnection; (ii) integration of renewable resources; and (iii) demand side management technologies for shaping the demand profile.