• Primary Program Energy Transitions and Electric Power
  • Research Interests Electricity Markets, Renewable Energy Policy, Power Systems Modeling

Biography

Hatem is senior research analyst at KAPSARC. He holds a master’s degree in power system economics, with a focus on electricity markets, from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Idaho.

Before joining KAPSARC, Hatem worked within various industries. He interned at ABB Västerås in Sweden, where he worked on electric vehicle asset management under the Swedish transport administration’s electric road systems project. Hatem also worked at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Washington state, where he modeled speed governors and prime movers for hydro and gas turbines.

Publications

See all Hatem’s publications
  • Discussion papers
  • Data Insights
  • Instant Insights
  • Commentaries
  • KAPSARC journal articles
Cost, Emission, and Macroeconomic Implications of Diesel Displacement in the Saudi Agricultural Sector: Options and Policy Insights

Cost, Emission, and Macroeconomic Implications of Diesel Displacement in the Saudi Agricultural Sector: Options and Policy Insights

The Saudi agricultural sector relies on diesel for irrigation, which is provided to farmers at a much lower price than the average global price, implying significant opportunity costs. With the aid of soft-coupled power and macro-econometric models, we assess the cost and macroeconomic implications of electrifying irrigation activities in the Saudi agricultural sector. Three electrification scenarios are considered: electrifying each individual farm with a dedicated hybrid renewable micro-grid, electrifying the entire farm cluster with central generation and connecting the entire cluster via transmission to the national grid. Compared with the base-case, connecting the farm cluster to the national grid is found to be the most economical but the least environmentally friendly. The renewable and central generation scenarios are costlier (compared with the transmission scenario) due, respectively, to the high battery costs and gas infrastructure needed.

24th August 2022
Cross-seasonal Fuel Savings from Load Shifting in the Saudi Industrial Sector

Cross-seasonal Fuel Savings from Load Shifting in the Saudi Industrial Sector

Load shifting, that is, moving demand from peak to off-peak hours, is an important type of demand response. It can reduce the overall operating costs of a power system and improve the reliability of the power grid. This study estimates the financial implications of load shifting in the Saudi industrial sector. We use a national Saudi power system dispatch optimization model to simulate three scenarios. With this model, we quantify the impacts of shifting industrial loads from the peak summer to the off-peak winter months, keeping industrial electricity tariffs unchanged.    

11th April 2022
Regional Heterogeneous Drivers of Electricity Demand in Saudi Arabia

Regional Heterogeneous Drivers of Electricity Demand in Saudi Arabia

Aggregate residential electricity consumption in Saudi Arabia has increased rapidly over the past several decades, largely due to population increases and fast economic growth (SAMA 2019). The growth in electricity consumption has been driven, among other factors, by government-administered prices fixed in nominal terms for years with minor adjustments.

13th September 2020
Global Trends in Cloud Computing and Saudi Arabia’s Response

Global Trends in Cloud Computing and Saudi Arabia’s Response

As data centers become operational in the Kingdom, they will be an additional driver of long-term electricity demand. KAPSARC is actively studying these challenges and their implications for the economy by modeling and forecasting electricity demand.

2nd June 2021
Social Distancing: The Impact of COVID-19 on Mobility in Saudi Arabia

Social Distancing: The Impact of COVID-19 on Mobility in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia took early measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 by enforcing social distancing measures. Figure 1 compares the daily change in mobility1 requests submitted by users of Apple Maps in Saudi Arabia since February 27, 2020 (left axis) with the confirmed cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in the country (right axis).  

8th July 2020
Revisiting the Impact of COVID-19 on the Demand for Transport and Gasoline

Revisiting the Impact of COVID-19 on the Demand for Transport and Gasoline

The global outbreak of COVID-19 began in March 2020. As of April 2021, the global caseload has reached over 150 million. Governments globally have introduced various measures in an attempt to contain the virus’s spread. These measures have varied in type and stringency in different parts of the world. Some nations have applied extensive containment measures, whereas others have implemented basic guidelines. Governments have also introduced various vaccines to combat the pandemic; around 1.4 billion vaccine doses had been administered as of May 2021.

24th June 2021
What Texas Tells Us About Lessening the Frequency and Severity of Electricity Blackouts?

What Texas Tells Us About Lessening the Frequency and Severity of Electricity Blackouts?

On Monday, February 12, approximately three million homes and businesses in Texas lost power due to an unusual winter storm that simultaneously increased electricity demand and decreased supply. This was not the first time; Texas had a similar incident due to cold weather in 2011. Severe weather is a frequent cause of large-scale blackouts. For instance, in 2012, the Northeastern region of the United States suffered extensive power outages due to Hurricane Sandy. The hurricane toppled many distribution lines, resulting in several million residents not having electricity for up to two weeks.        

28th February 2021
The Saudi Move into Hydrogen: A Paradigm Shift

The Saudi Move into Hydrogen: A Paradigm Shift

Saudi Arabia is moving ahead with its diversification plan, Saudi Vision 2030, by adopting hydrogen. The Kingdom is keen to enable the circular carbon economy (CCE) by producing and utilizing clean hydrogen. On September 27, Saudi Aramco announced its first shipment of hydrogen from Saudi Arabia to Japan. The 40 tonnes of high-grade blue ammonia shipment, which is meant for use in zero-carbon power generation, marks the first of its kind worldwide (Ratcliffe 2020).

6th January 2021
The Impact of COVID-19 on Transport and Gasoline Demand

The Impact of COVID-19 on Transport and Gasoline Demand

In the last few months, the world has experienced the negative effects of COVID-19. The outbreak, which started as an epidemic concentrated in China, quickly spread to become a global pandemic. As of May 12, 2020, there have been over four million COVID-19 cases globally, and this number continues to increase.

21st May 2020
Is Saudi Arabia Getting Warmer?

Is Saudi Arabia Getting Warmer?

According to NASA, the world is getting warmer. Warmer weather increases the demand for cooling, which subsequently increases the demand for electricity. Is Saudi Arabia getting warmer? And how might this impact the demand for electricity in the Kingdom? To answer these questions, KAPSARC examined temperature data1 for 13 cities spread across Saudi Arabia over 29 years (from 1990 to 2018). The cities included Riyadh, Jeddah, Dhahran, Madinah, Arar, Sakaka, Tabuk, Hail, Buraydah, Albaha, Abha, Jazan, and Najran. 

6th April 2020

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