INVESTING SOLAR ENERGY FOR PRODUCING ELECTRIC ENERGY IN THE SOUTHERN BADIA OF IRAQ (RAMADI, HADITHA, ANAH, AL-QAIM, AL-RUTBA, AL-NUKHAYEB, NAJAF, ALSHABAJAH, AL-MA'ANIYA, AL-SAMAWAH, AS-SALMAN,AL-BUSAYYAH, AS -SAFAWI, BASRA, AND AL-ZUBAIR(
The electric power sector is considered as the most important active economic sector in public life aspects including industrial, agricultural, service and recreational ones. It is known that traditional energy (fossil fuels) causes climate problems. Such problems have negative impact on the atmosphere, due to the increase in air pollution and the emergence of global sources such as solar energy as it is clean and renewable energy. As the southern Badia of Iraq has a high solar energy, it is possible to invest it in the production of electric energy and then employing it in the developmental fields in those cities (mentioned above) and even remote ones. Thus, this will lead to reducing the quantities of fossil energy consumption as well as reducing its polluting emissions to the atmosphere and its negative effects on nature, man in particular. The main objective of this study is to discover the potentials of the study area of solar radiation energy evaluating and choosing the optimal sites for the construction of the aforementioned power stations. In processing its data, the study used statistical methods to calculate the amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the study cities in the southern Badia of Iraq according to the following equation: Solar Energy = the amount of solar energy (Kilo Watt/ M2/ day) = the total solar radiation (calorie/C2/day) *constant, where the constant equals (0.0116) The study reached the most important results: Some of the study stations recorded the best optimal sites for constructing solar power stations. These are the stations of As Safawi, Busayyah, As-Salman, Al-Ma'aniya, Al-Shabajah, Al-Samawah, Najaf, Al-Nukhayb, and Al-Rutba. On the other hand, the Basra and Zubair stations recorded the lowest values for solar energy; therefore they are not ideal sites compared to other stati.
Keywords: Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Southern Badia.