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Economic feasibility of decentralized hybrid photovoltaic-diesel technology in Saudi Arabia: A way forward for sustainable coastal development

Shaahid Syed M. (King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Research Institute, Center for Engineering Research, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia)

In view of growing concerns of global warming and depleting oil/gas reserves, many nations are considering use of hybrid photovoltaic-diesel technology as an option for power generation The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has higher level of solar radiation and is a prospective candidate for deployment of solar photovoltaic systems. Literature indicates that commercial/residential buildings in the Kingdom consume about 10-45% of the total electric energy generated. The aim of this study is to analyze solar radiation data in city of Yanbu to assess the technoeconomic feasibility of utilizing hybrid photovoltaic-diesel-battery power systems to meet the load of a typical residential building. The monthly average daily solar global radiation ranges from 3.61 to 7.90 kWh/m2 . National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s HOMER software has been used in the study. The simulation results indicate that for a hybrid system, composed of 4 kWp photovoltaic system together with 10 kW diesel system, and a battery storage of 3 hours of autonomy (average load), the photovoltaic penetration is 21%. The cost of generating energy from that hybrid system has been found to be 0.180 $/kWh. With use of this hybrid system, about 2 tons per year of carbon emissions can be avoided entering into the local atmosphere. Also, for a given hybrid configuration, the operational time of diesel generators has been found to decrease with increase in photovoltaic capacity. The investigation examines impact of photovoltaic penetration on: carbon emissions, diesel fuel consumption, net present cost, cost of energy, etc.

Keywords: hybrid photovoltaic-diesel systems, residential loads, diesel generators, carbon emissions, solar irradiance