Assessing residential solar rooftop potential in Saudi Arabia using
This study explores the extent to which renewable energy, namely solar rooftop deployment, at the residential scale in Riyadh could be cost-efficient and could accelerate the
According to the model used in this study, and using the same average electricity price, residential solar deployment in Riyadh would have been around 56.1 MW in 2018. Blazquez et al. (2017) point out that shifting power generation from using oil as fuel to using solar power has a positive impact on the Saudi Arabian economy.
Villas and traditional houses represent 66.2% of all housing units in Riyadh. It is reasonable to assume that only those residents who own their homes would install PV solar panels, given the long maturity time (about 25 years) of such renewable investments.
Residential PV solar energy is uneconomical for households in KSA. In KSA, PV at utility scale is a cost-efficient alternative. An intermediate proximity business model might be economically competitive in KSA. This new business model would be based on neighborhood-scale solar fields.
Any analysis focused only on Saudi electricity consumers could be misleading as it would miss a significant share of the city's electricity demand. However, the vast majority of non-Saudi householders do not own their dwellings and, as such, will not invest in solar energy.
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