PV energy penetration in Saudi Arabia: current status, residential, and commercial users, local investment, use in modern agriculture

ABSTRACT

Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East with huge solar energy resources but has achieved minimal adoption of photovoltaic energy systems (PV). This study investigates the potential of PV systems to address pressing challenges, including water scarcity and agricultural unemployment. This study addresses the deployment of PV in contemporary agriculture such as aquaponics and hydroponics to promote sustainable water, energy, and agricultural practices. Scrutinising national goals for PV energy against ground realities. The buyback tariff, interest rates of loans, and potential future power price increases are simulated to find suitable rates to encourage PV adoption. The current government grid purchase price is 1.87 cents USD/kWh, while the national grid selling price is 4.8 cents USD/kWh. Small-scale PV plants offer local investors passive income streams if financial institutes can offer these projects at lower interest rates. Investigating the country’s educational sector reveals the need for an overhaul in technical education for solar energy systems. The simulation shows that PV use in agriculture is economically feasible for large loads even with buyback rates as low as 1.87 cents USD/kWh. This research contributes by emphasising local involvement and proposing financial mechanisms, government reforms, and sustainable agricultural development in the region.

KEYWORDS:

• Energy policy
• PV energy
• aquaponics
• energy economics

1. Introduction

The Middle East has been the largest exporter of oil and gas. Saudi Arabia, in the Middle East, leads the land mass, regional politics, and exports. Vision 2030 of Saudi Arabia aims to diversify the economy of the country away from fossil fuels. Saudi Arabia has huge renewable energy resources (Elhadidy and Shaahid 2009; A. B.; Awan 2019; A. B.; Awan, Zubair, and Chandra Mouli 2020; A.; Awan et al. 2018; Zubair and Bilal Awan 2021). The integration of renewable energy systems into the national grid in Saudi Arabia is ambitious. Vision 2030 of Saudi Arabia states that the country will establish 41 GW of renewable energy systems by 2032 while creating 26 GW of wind and nuclear power (Salam and Khan 2017; Yamada 2016). Saudi Arabia also signed a memorandum with Soft Bank Corporation to instal 200 GW of solar energy systems at the cost of 200 billion USD (Bloomberg 2018; Zubair et al. 2018).

The ground realities show that it will be difficult to achieve these targets set in Vision 2030. A PV power plant installed in Sakaka with an installed capacity of 300 MW started producing power in 2020. This power plant is built by an independent power producer (IPP) at a low power purchase agreement (PPA) of 7 Halala/kWh (1.87 cents USD/kWh) on a build own and operate (BOO) contract (Power 2019). The PV panels in Sakaka are placed in a single-axis tracking regime and the produced energy is directly sold to the grid. Another PV power plant is under construction in Sudair on a BOO basis with an installed capacity of 1.5 GW. This plant has a contract of PPA at a record low cost of 5 Halala/kWh (1.33 cents USD/kWh). This plant will be fully functional in 2022 (Power 2021). These PV power plants show that PV energy generation in Saudi Arabia is cheaper than in most parts of the world (Zubair et al. 2019). Even with these projects, establishing 41 GW of renewable energy systems seems difficult in the given time frame.

The PV systems have not established their foothold in the residential and industrial sectors of the country. In the residential sector, the cost of energy before 2018 was 1.6 cents USD/kWh. In 2018 it was increased to 4.8 cents USD/kWh (Muhammad et al. 2019). The current cost of energy in Saudi Arabia for the residential sector is six times lower than in Denmark and Germany (European Commission 2018) where Germany leads the installed PV system in the residential sector. The Saudi government has initiated a pilot project for a net-energy metering system, but the rate of energy purchase is kept at 7 Halala per kWh (1.86 cents USD/kWh) (Electricity & Cogeneration Regulatory Authority 2019). These lower energy rates do not offer the residents any incentives for installing PV energy systems on their premises.

Many researchers have worked on the PV energy system in Saudi Arabia. Rahmat and Amir (Hajimineh and Mohammad Moghani 2023) have detailed the importance of renewable energy in the future of the country. In another study, a survey was conducted on 1498 individuals to analyse the factors affecting the adoption of residential PV systems in Saudi Arabia (Alrashoud and Tokimatsu 2019). The results of this survey show that locals are concerned about the installation cost and the revenue generated by PV energy systems. Alrashoud and Tokimatsu (Alrashoud and Tokimatsu 2020) presented their analysis based on a survey that residents of Saudi Arabia are interested in PV systems in their homes. The residents showed their willingness to purchase a PV system for their houses if the government subsidised the capital cost of PV systems by 40%. Wonsuk Ko et al. (Wonsuk, Al-Ammar, and Almahmeed 2019) studied the economic feasibility of a feed-in tariff for Saudi Arabia and compared the situation of Saudi Arabia with the USA and Germany. The authors concluded that due to the low price of the grid purchase price, the payback period is long, and it’s not enough to motivate the locals to invest in PV systems. The authors assumed the feed-in tariff of 8 Halala SAR/kWh while the government later that year announced the official feed-in tariff of 7 Halala SAR/kWh. AlOtaibi et al. predicted in 2019 that Saudi Arabia would be able to localise the PV industry by up to 80% by 2023 based on the pilot project of 10 MW (AlOtaibi et al. 2020). The Sakaka IPP contracts show that Saudi Arabia has not achieved that target as PV panels and inverters are acquired from eastern manufacturers for these projects (Power 2019). In another study by Elshurafa et al. (Elshurafa et al. 2019), an economic analysis of a mosque with an installed capacity of 124 kW PV system for a mosque in Riyadh is performed. The grid sale price was assumed to be equal to 2 cents USD/kWh whereas the grid purchase price for government building of 8.5 cents USD/kWh was used. The results show that a project with a higher load is economically feasible without any subsidies from the government. Almarshoud and Adam (Almarshoud and Adam 2018) studied the challenges and opportunities for very large-scale PV deployment in Saudi Arabia. The authors recommended that the government must work on a national policy that can ensure investors a steady source of income.

In the second part of this article, the modernisation of agriculture is highlighted by using PV energy that can save jobs of hundreds of people and save water using cheaper energy from source PV systems. Although Saudi Arabia faces a scarcity of non-renewable water resources, its agricultural production, reliant on this water source, has grown eightfold since 1970, and by 2017, it had doubled compared to the year 2000. This sector is responsible for 550,000 jobs in Saudi Arabia (Mahmood et al. 2019). The government has increased oil prices (Atalla, Gasim, and Hunt 2018) and removed electricity incentives in the agriculture department in 2018 (Hasanov and Shannak 2020). The water shortages, increase in power costs, and climate changes (Haque and Riyazuddin Khan 2020) have impacted the food security of Saudi Arabia (Mokni and Youssef 2020). Water pumps based on PV systems are already proven financially feasible than diesel generators in the Middle East (Al-Waeli et al. 2017; Alghassab et al. 2022; Kazem et al. 2017). The workforce of Saudi Arabia’s agriculture can be retrained by employing a modern agriculture system using PV energy as the main source of energy to achieve sustainability. New agricultural horizons like aquaponics and hydroponics require more electrical energy and less water (Barbosa et al. 2015) while agrophotovoltaics saves plants from excessive solar radiation (Willockx, Lavaert, and Cappelle 2022). Sustainability in agriculture and energy can be achieved by adopting these new techniques. The latest techniques of agrophotovoltaics, aquaponics, and hydroponics offer various levels of control of inputs to plants such as solar irradiance, temperature, water, fertilisers, and soil medium (Quagrainie et al. 2018). Extreme sun exposure and low water availability limit the variety of crops (Parker et al. 2020) that can be cultivated in Saudi Arabia. Various crops can be grown with hydroponics and aquaponics techniques such as basil, lettuce, tomatoes, salad greens, kale, chard, bok choy, peppers, and cucumbers while commonly raised fish in aquaponics are tilapia, ornamental fish, catfish, perch, bluegill, trout, and bass (Love et al. 2015). These latest agricultural techniques require electrical energy throughout the day. The PV systems can power during sun hours and the grid can be used to power at night. The load at night will enhance the capacity factor of the grid and decrease the cost of the unit of electricity for the grid.

In our comprehensive literature review, a notable gap emerges that there is a noticeable absence of analysis regarding the determination of an optimal grid sale price. This critical oversight is addressed in the present study, where we investigate the involved interplay of factors such as capital costs, grid purchase and sale prices of electricity, and interest rates in the context of photovoltaic adoption in Saudi Arabia. Our investigation highlights unexplored factors, including the potential of mini or micro-PV plants in the megawatt range as lucrative investment opportunities in a nation rich in solar resources. Furthermore, we shed light on the state of the Saudi Arabian education system concerning solar energy degrees, offering insights into an essential yet overlooked dimension. Going beyond the conventional scope, our research introduces an innovative paradigm by proposing an alternative industry for PV energy systems. This not only contributes to the nation’s energy landscape but also holds the promise of boosting sustainability in critical sectors such as water, food, jobs, and overall energy resilience.

In this article, the adoption of PV energy systems in Saudi Arabia is analysed at various levels. The economic analysis for residential customers, commercial customers, and government establishments is conducted, considering the different grid purchase prices for these customer segments. An analysis is performed to determine a suitable grid sale price for residential customers. Micro-scale PV systems for locals have been examined as investment plans to generate passive income. The current situation of universities and technical institutes is specifically assessed regarding PV energy systems. The consumption of PV energy during the day by modern agricultural systems, such as aquaponics and hydroponics, and their economic feasibility are examined in conjunction with PV energy systems.

2. PV systems in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is blessed with huge resources of solar energy. The global horizontal irradiance (GHI) of Saudi Arabia is one of the highest in the world (A. Awan et al. 2018). The country lies in the middle of the three continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa as shown in Figure 1 (Solargis 2019). Saudi Arabia has the capability of exporting solar energy to Europe, Asia, and Africa in the future. Saudi Arabia has solar energy resources, financial capability, location, and a desire for diversification of the economy (Muhammad et al. 2019; Zubair and Bilal Awan 2021). Australia has already started a massive project of solar energy export to Singapore (Maisch 2020). Australia will build a 4200 km high voltage direct current undersea cable capable of transferring 3.2 GW power from 20 GW PV panels and 40 GWh battery banks. Saudi Arabia has started developing renewable energy systems with targets set in Vision 2030 that the country will establish 41 GW of renewable energy systems by 2032 (A. Awan et al. 2018).

Figure 1. The global horizontal irradiance (GHI) of four continents of Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia (Solargis 2019).

The contracts of PV power plants in Saudi Arabia are given to large-scale PV plants such as the 300 MW plant in Sakaka and the 1500 MW PV power plant in Sudair (Nasser et al. 2022). Another PPA agreement has been signed with an IPP to establish a 700 MW Ar Rass PV plant in Qassim province (Amran et al. 2020). This power plant will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024. These power plants will sell the generated power to the main grid. The large-scale systems have the advantages of lower capital costs per kW installed capacity, no requirement of batteries or AC to DC converters (Huawei 2020), proper maintenance teams (NS Energy 2023), robotic cleaning systems, enhanced grid controls, and high voltage grid connections (Saidi et al. 2023).

The set target of 41 GW of renewable energy power plants seems to be difficult at this pace. The disadvantages of a large-scale PV system are that energy generation can be affected by local weather effects (Brecl and Topic 2018), a vast portion of land is fenced off to restrict the movement of animals and people, the temperature around that area is higher, and land is stripped from any vegetation. Newcomers in renewable energy adaptation face hurdles in getting permits and approvals from the government as procedures and policies are not well developed (Ali et al. 2021). The PV panels and equipment are imported from Asian manufacturers with a lifetime warranty (Jacobo 2022). Large imports result in an imbalance in the national budget which again drives governments to slow down renewable energy adaptation (Sharvini et al. 2018; Youm 2000).

The modular PV system is not limited to large-scale systems. The spectrum of a PV system is from mere watts to a very large scale of gigawatts of power plants. Currently, the PV power system has not trickled down to smaller consumers. Small-scale PV energy systems of a few megawatts, distributed across the country can provide the people of Saudi Arabia with a low-risk passive income with loans at lower interest rates and reasonable rate of buyback energy from the government (Basu et al. 2022; Panapakidis, Koltsaklis, and Christoforidis 2021). PV energy systems require a low level of maintenance for a small-scale system where the grid can take all generated power (Panapakidis, Koltsaklis, and Christoforidis 2021). Regular maintenance includes cleaning PV panels, checking the fan and fuses of inverters, and tracking the error codes of the system (Haney and Burstein 2013). Modern systems can connect to the internet using Wi-Fi and local area networks to update data on an app for energy generation updates and notifications for errors in the system (Dönmez and Altuncu 2022). A maintenance company can be hired to handle any high-level system maintenance. Small distributive PV systems have advantages such as the lower impact of weather and clouds on overall national generation (Jewell 1987; Pepermans et al. 2003), availability of power for local loads, and jobs across the country which results in lower urbanisation (Drechsler et al. 2017).

PV system is modular and can be installed at load-demand sites which can be houses, commercial properties, factories, and even agricultural farms. Small-scale PV plants can also be developed as a source of revenue for locals and support for the grid. The government has offered a net-metering policy in 2019 but the buyback of solar energy is offered at a low rate of 7 Halala/kWh (1.87 cents USD/kWh) (Ali 2023) for residential customers. In this study, PV energy systems have been simulated at these various options, and issues are highlighted that are hindering the mass acceptance of PV energy systems in Saudi Arabia.

2.1. PV system for residential customers and commercial Customers

Residential customers place PV panels usually at a fixed axis to minimise maintenance of the system and enhance structural strength in case of strong winds. PV panels in residential areas are also prone to shading losses caused by nearby buildings, towers, and trees in the environment. Simulations have been performed to see the feasibility for residential customers in Saudi Arabia with the grid sale price of 1.87 cents USD/kWh to the grid. The cost of a large-scale PV system reported in recently published articles is around 760 USD/kW (Zubair and Bilal Awan 2021). The cost of a 300 MW plant installed in Sakaka with a PPA of 1.87 cents USD/kWh is around 600 USD/kWh by reverse engineering. The Sakaka power plant is on single-axis tracking and uses only DC to AC converters to reduce capital costs. This power plant is also equipped with panel cleaning robots where each panel is cleaned once every 20th day. The maintenance teams are responsible for tracking faults and issues and the OEM of panels has a warranty for their complete life cycle of 25 years.

Small residential PV plants without any tracking system will have around 30% higher cost per kW than a utility-connected large-scale PV plant placed in a single-axis tracking system (Goodrich, James, and Woodhouse 2012). The grid sale price for Saudi Arabia is 7 halala/kWh (1.87 Cent USD) for residential customers with 187 USD as a connection for a system less than 50 kW (Electricity & Cogeneration Regulatory Authority 2019). The project details are shown in Table 1. The simulation is performed by the System Advisor Model (SAM) by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Sakaka, Saudi Arabia is located at a latitude of 29.7, and a longitude of 40.1. This area receives 6.23 kWh/m²/day global horizontal irradiance whereas June receives the highest irradiance while December receives the least irradiance. The average temperature is 21.2°C while the average wind speed is 4.0 m/s.

Table 1. Parameters for a PV system installed by the residential user.

Item	Value	Unit
PV Panel	400	W
Inverter	4200	W
DC to AC Ratio	1.2	%
DC Losses	4.4	%
Annual DC degradation rate	0.5	%/year
Operation and Maintenance	10	USD/year/kW
Direct Capital Cost	600	USD/kW
Indirect Capital Cost	150	USD/kW
Total Installed Cost	750	USD/kW
Debt	85	%
Interest Rate	2.5	%

Simulations are performed for residential users using capital costs while interest rates are varied. The project becomes financially infeasible without loans at cheaper rates for energy export to the grid of 7 Halala/kWh (1.87 cents USD/kWh). An elevated interest rate leads to increased annual interest payments, which, in turn, contributes to a reduced NPV for the project. When the net present value of a project turns negative, it signifies that the project fails to generate adequate revenue to overcome both the initial capital and the annual operating costs. At an interest rate of 7% the PV system became unprofitable with an NPV of −30 USD. An increase in the cost of electricity purchased from the grid results in more savings in the electricity bill. These savings result in lowering the number of years to recover the capital cost of the PV energy. The simulation shows that at 4.8 cents USD/kWh, the simple payback of 12 years can be reduced to 7.2 years for the cost of electricity of 10 cents USD/kWh. The factors affecting the feasibility of residential PV systems are that the residential system is based on fixed placement at a tilt angle equal to the latitude of that location. A system with single-axis tracking will outperform a PV system that is placed at a fixed tilt angle by 18% in Sakaka. One can argue that the Sakaka power plant employs single-axis trackers so residential customers should have a lower capital cost for its PV system placed on a fixed tilt angle. Literature review shows that the capital cost of a plant decreases with the increase in installed capacity. NREL shows a residential PV system is around 60% more expensive than a utility-scale PV plant (Ran et al. 2017). A sensitivity analysis is performed by increasing the capital cost to see the feasibility of a residential PV system where the interest rate is kept at 2.5% with an 85% loan. Application fees and metre charges for residential systems less than 50 kW are 700 SR (187 USD). These fees are 3% of the installation cost for a 7.7 kW PV system installation cost. The analysis shown in Figures 2, 3 , 4 , and 5 shows that a PV system is feasible with lower interest rates, lower capital cost, higher cost of electricity from the grid, and higher cost of PV energy sold to the grid. To promote PV systems in residential customers the interest rate should be around 5% and PPA should be around 3.2 cents USD/kWh. The simple payback period at this buyback rate is less than 10 years. The higher pay-back rate will incentivise the citizens to instal PV systems on their rooftops. A national net-zero policy for buildings and loads can also be added to the new building to encourage residential customers towards PV energy systems.

Figure 2. The net present value of the PV system is computed for different interest rates of the loan where the PV system is financially feasible for lower interest rates.

A graph where orange and blue dotted lines present nominal and real LCOE respectively and pink bars show the NPV of the system on the y-axis with respect to the interest rate on the x-axis. As the interest rate increases the NPV of the system decreases and LCOE increases.

Figure 3. The net present value of the PV system is computed for various changes in the capital cost of a PV system. Lower capital cost reduces the payback period.

A graph where orange and blue dotted lines present nominal and real LCOE respectively, pink bars show the NPV of the system and grey dotted lines present the payback period of the project with respect to capital cost on the x-axis. As the interest rate increases the NPV of the system decreases and LCOE increases.

Figure 4. The net present value of the PV system is computed for different rates of electricity provided by the grid. Higher rates of electricity as in the case of Germany and other developed countries result in lower payback periods for a PV system.

A graph where orange and blue dotted lines present simple and discounted payback periods respectively, and pink bars show the NPV with respect to the rate of electricity on the x-axis. As the rate of electricity increases the NPV of the system increases and the payback period decreases.

Figure 5. The net present value of the PV system is computed for different rates of a power purchase agreement. Higher rates of electricity sold back to the grid result in lower periods of the PV system.

A graph where orange and blue dotted lines present simple and discounted payback periods respectively, and pink bars show the NPV with respect to the PPA rate of electricity on the x-axis. As the power purchase agreement of produced electricity increases the NPV of the system increases and the payback period decreases.

For residential customers, the motivations for installation of a PV system can be higher cost of electrical energy from the national grid, high revenue generation by electrical energy generated by PV system sold to the grid, electricity outages, national targets for generation of energy onsite to achieve net zero energy or near zero energy, or location is off-grid where the national grid is not available. The residents of Saudi Arabia do not have any of these factors. Electrical energy is available to all residents at cheaper prices, the grid sale price of PV energy generated is low, there are no power outages, and the residents have no national requirement for the generation of energy at their premises.

2.2. PV system for government establishments

The cost of electric energy for all governmental sectors is charged at 32 Halalas/kWh (8.52 cents USD/kWh). Simulation for a PV system on a government building for a net metering PV system is presented in Figures 6 and 7. The building load for this simulation is a College of Engineering Building in the Majmaah University, Campus (Muhammad, Ahmed Bilal Awan, and Praveen 2018; Zubair et al. 2018). One of the key factors, in this case, is load matches the PV energy generation period. Figure 6 shows the average monthly grid sale, grid purchase, and load of the building of the College of Engineering. The months of April, May, and June are the months with the highest load where the sale of energy to the grid is minimum. December, January, and February have the lowest load and highest energy sales to the grid. Figure 7 shows the average hourly grid sale, grid purchase, and load of the building of the College of Engineering in a year. The grid purchase of electricity is highest after sunset while at noon the building has the highest electricity sales to the grid. This high cost of grid electricity, even with a low price of energy sold to the grid at 7 Halalas/kWh (1.86 cents USD/kWh) shows a simple payback period of 6.9 years and a discounted payback period of 10.9 years. The higher energy cost from the grid for a government building results in a more economically feasible PV energy system.

Figure 6. Average monthly load, grid sales, and grid purchase of electricity of a net zero energy government building in Saudi Arabia.

A graph where the average monthly electrical load, grid sales, and grid purchase are shown by black, blue, and red lines respectively. Summer has a higher load which results in lower grid sales and higher grid purchases.

Figure 7. Average daily load, grid sales, and grid purchase of electricity of a net zero energy commercial building in Saudi Arabia in a year.

The graph where black, green, and red lines present average hourly load, grid sales, and grid purchases respectively with respect to hours of a day on the x-axis. The load and grid sales are high during the day while grid purchase is high after sunset.

2.3. Micro PV energy system

The PV energy systems can be spread in the country by encouraging mini and micro energy generation systems connected to the grid by locals. The advantages of a small-scale PV system are distributed power generation, lower weather-related changes at the grid level, more opportunities for business and jobs for the local community, and lower pressure on urbanisation. Solar farms can be an alternative to farms where water shortages have forced the farmers to leave agriculture. Here in this work, a framework is given to implement local growth in PV energy generation. A small power plant of a size of 1 MW PV energy system placed on a fixed tilted regime needs minimum repair and maintenance.

1 MW plant is placed in Sakaka, and sensitivity analysis is performed for the internal rate of return (IRR) from 5% to 10% as shown in Figure 8. The acceptable internal rate of return is taken as 7.5% (Dhavale and Sarkis 2018). The capital cost of the project is selected the same as the 300 MW Sakaka Power plant. The analysis shows that a 1 MW PV power plant is viable for an IRR of 8% and higher. The project shows the debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) of the project with an IRR of 8% is 1.31 showing that the project has sufficient debt coverage for paying a loan.

Figure 8. The net present value of a 1 MW PV system is computed for different internal rate returns. The debt service coverage ratio shows that the project is financially strong.

3. Strategies to improve PV penetration in Saudi Arabia

3.1. Financing options

The banks should roll out financing options for locals to set up small PV energy systems. The financing institutes should provide finance for a complete tenor of the project or at least for 15 to 20 years. Insurance should cover any natural or accidental loss. Full-paying plans should be available for all banks for various financing options.

3.2. PPA calculation app

An app to calculate the PPA based on the location and design parameters of the small-scale PV plant should be available at the national portal. This app can be designed based on the incoming solar radiation of that area, available load nearby, cost of land, distance from grid lines, distance from a grid station, available local maintenance teams, future planning of the electric company, and goals of the nation. This app will help in deciding the financial viability of such a project with the help of financial institutes such as commercial banks. A single national PPA is not recommended for such a vast country where different input parameters for PV systems vary throughout the country.

3.3. Technical training

In 2010 Saudi Arabia started King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE) (Yeang and AlQura University 2010) to develop a sustainable future for the country by employing renewable energy. This city aimed to establish nuclear and renewable energy power systems for energy generation and water distillation for a sustainable future. K.A.CARE established Renewable Resource Monitoring and Mapping (RRMM) stations across the country to measure and record renewable energy resources (Ahmed et al. 2018). K.A.CARE is also responsible for creating policies related to renewable energy. The other aims of K.A.CARE include establishing standards in renewable technologies, enhancing the technical capabilities of locals, and developing various renewable energy systems indigenously to lower import budgets, provide jobs for locals, and attain sustainability in the supply chain of renewable energy systems.

The technical capabilities of the workforce at various levels must be enhanced for PV energy systems to prevail in Saudi Arabia. Currently, Saudi Arabia has 29 public universities (MOE 2022b) while 18 private Universities and Institutes (MOE 2022a) offer courses related to engineering and technology. Out of these 46 institutes, only 3 offer a bachelor’s degree while 5 institutes offer a master’s programme and just 3 institutes offer a Ph.D. in renewable energy, sustainable engineering, or related programme. This data is collected by visiting the official websites of these institutes.

Technical diplomas after secondary and higher secondary education are regulated by the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation, Saudi Arabia (TVTC 2022). Saudi Arabia has 190 technical institutes dispersed over 12 regions. Out of these 190 institutes, just three institutes offer programmes related to renewable and sustainable energy.

A review of Universities and Institutes show that the focus of the Saudi Arabian education system is not enough to cater to large-scale PV systems deployment, especially in the residential and commercial sector. Institutes of diplomas and bachelor’s should offer renewable energy systems with a focus on solar energy. Solar energy systems outclass all other renewable energy systems in Saudi Arabia based on available resources.

3.4. Registration of technical personnel

Many verified installation, repair, and maintenance, cleaning teams will be required to help the mini-PV power plants run at their full capacity without keeping a permanent team on the payroll as it would be more feasible to hire a maintenance team just when they are required. A national database of registered teams with their ratings should be available at the national portal where user feedback affects their rating. An app for hiring a maintenance team and providing feedback on their work will enhance PV system penetration in the country.

3.5. Protection of national grid

The protection of the national grid is the main important task of the government. More investment should be made in this respect. Grid protection systems should be installed for two-way power transfer. The grid should be able to take excessive power during sun hours so that most of the local customers can take advantage of solar energy in the country. The government should plan to sell excess energy to Europe and South Asia if PV penetration reaches such levels.

3.6. Localization of parts for PV energy system

Solar trackers, frames, structures, transformers, and cleaning robots should be made locally. The grading of such equipment should be performed at the national level so that the potential buyers have complete knowledge of the product quality and its features. These manufacturing units will provide jobs to locals and reduce the import bill.

3.7. National rating of PV products

The national rating of all PV panels, inverters, cables, safety equipment, and related items should be available on the national portal of Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organisation (SASO) (SASO 2022) for the benefit of customers. The compatibility of various products should also be stated to enhance the end-user experience.

3.8. Remarks on PV systems in Saudi Arabia at the residential scale

The PV system does not offer any significant advantage to the people of Saudi Arabia as the cost of electrical energy from the national grid is low, revenue generation by electrical energy generated by the PV system sold to the grid is low, and the country does not face any challenges of electricity outages, electrical energy is available throughout the nation, and there are no specific national targets for generation of energy onsite to achieve net zero energy or near zero energy. The government should announce the net zero targets and enhance the buyback rate of electricity to transform this sector. The residents of Saudi Arabia can use PV systems in agricultural and commercial applications to reduce their energy bills. One of the main economic activities where PV systems can help in reducing energy bills is agriculture where most of the work performed is during sun hours. The use and advantages of using PV energy systems in modern agriculture are presented in the next section.

4. PV energy system for agricultural systems

4.1. Modern agriculture

Classical agriculture system requires soil as a medium, solar energy, fertilisers, and water as the main ingredients. Classical techniques require more water than new techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and agrophotovoltaics. Lettuce grown using hydroponics vs. classical techniques shows that hydroponics requires 12.5 times less water while yielding 11 times more produce (Barbosa et al. 2015). The harsh weather conditions of Saudi Arabia with water scarcity and abundant solar resources direct the country towards modern agriculture for self-sustainability. Hydroponics offers control of nutrients, light, and temperature. The other advantages of hydroponics compared to classical agriculture are no weed issues and fewer diseases in crops. Hydroponics setups can be established in suburban and industrial areas to provide fresh produce without the cost of transportation. Aquaponics on the other hand produces fish and fresh vegetables in a completely organic scheme which can result in higher rates for the produce. Aquaponics requires more capital cost and daily costs as livestock fish require more delicate operation than hydroponics. Agriculture along with rows of PV panels is termed Agrophotovoltaics. The PV system decreases the direct sunlight to the plants thus reducing water evaporation from soil and plants. Agrophotovoltaics increases the range of plants that can be cultivated in hot and dry areas as the PV panels reduce around 33% of solar radiation falling on the plants. This reduction in radiation enables the plants to retain their moisture and stay in lower stress mode (Weselek et al. 2019).

Plants can be grown in sophisticated indoor spaces where light, water, and nutrients can be controlled. The use of water is reduced to 2% compared to open fields (Kozai 2013). The water evaporated by plants is captured again by the cooling ducts of the air conditioner. The capital cost of a hydroponics system or aquaponics system includes the cost of fish tanks, plant beds, water pumps, air pumps, piping and installation, bio media, dehumidification system, cooling pads, heating system, testing equipment for pH value, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen probe (Love et al. 2015; Quagrainie et al. 2018).

4.2. PV systems for aquaponics and hydroponics

The electric load of hydroponics comprises water pumps, air pumps, lighting, heating, cooling, and dehumidification. The lighting from crops is kept to 14 hours per day where abundant natural light is used during most of the day. The total number of hours for artificial lighting in Riyadh is calculated to be 1214 hours. The optimum temperature for crop growth is maintained at 25 C. The total number of hours that cooling is required in a year is 4884 while for 1872 hours heating is required based on the average weather conditions of Riyadh. The average hourly difference between dry bulb temperature and wet on average is 12.7 C. This huge difference suggests evaporation cooling. The water shortage, on the other hand, requires the installation of a dehumidification system to capture water from the air to reduce water losses from the system. The economic feasibility of hydroponics and aquaponics systems is already established by K. K. Quagrainie et al., D. C. Love et al., and S. V. Souza (Love et al. 2015; Souza, Marcio Toesca Gimenes, and Binotto 2019). Saudi Arabia offers 47% lower electrical energy prices and 277% higher crop prices for hydroponics systems and aquaponics systems (Quagrainie et al. 2017).

The PV system used in hydroponics or aquaponics systems is usually installed on the roof of the establishment. The rooftop PV system is fixed at a certain tilt angle. The tilt angle used in this work is equal to the latitude of the location. A small-size farm is analysed with 6 plant beds and 6 fish tanks as presented by K. K. Quagrainie at el (Quagrainie et al. 2017). Jinko Solar PV panels of 400 W with an ABB 4200 W inverter are used to design PV systems. The grid sale price of 1.87 cents USD/kWh while the energy purchase price of 4.3 cents/kWh for the first 6000 kWh and 5.3 cents/kWh for more than 6000 kWh consumption. The size of the greenhouse and specifications of electrical systems used for the study from the work performed by Quagrainie et al (Quagrainie et al. 2018). A PV system is optimised for a load of these hydroponics and aquaponics systems. The analysis shows that PV systems for both modern agricultural systems are feasible. The NPV for hydroponics and aquaponics system is shown in Figure 9. A 35.2 kW and 38.4 kW system achieve the highest NPV for hydroponics systems and aquaponics systems respectively as shown in Figure 9. The higher load of the aquaponics system resulted in a larger optimised PV system compared to the hydroponics system. The hourly monthly average and the annual hourly average of load, PV energy generation, GHI, humidity, dry bulb temperature, and wet bulb temperature of hydroponics and aquaponics systems are shown in Figure 10. The analysis shows that PV systems installed on a hydroponics or aquaponics system are feasibly viable. These systems will ensure agricultural yield while enhancing the electric grid by consuming energy at night while selling extra energy generation during the day.

Figure 9. NPV of PV systems for hydroponics system and aquaponics system.

A graph where blue and red lines present NPV of hydroponics and aquaponics systems respectively with respect to the installed capacity of the PV system.

Figure 10. The hourly monthly average and the annual hourly average of load, PV energy generation, GHI, humidity, dry bulb temperature, and wet bulb temperature of hydroponics and aquaponics system a) the hourly monthly average of hydroponics system, b) the annual hourly average of the hydroponics system, c) the hourly monthly average of the aquaponics system, d) the annual hourly average of the aquaponics system.

The figure is composed of four graphs. Graphs a and b present hydroponic systems while graphs c and d present aquaponic systems. Graphs show dark blue, orange, pink, and light blue lines presenting dry bulb temperature, wet bulb temperature, humidity, and GHI respectively. The load and PV output are presented by a bar graph with black and red colours respectively. Graph a and c present average monthly values while Graph b and d present the average hourly values.

4.3. PV for agrophotovoltaics

The arid environment of Saudi Arabia is not suitable for various crops. The high ambient temperature and higher solar radiation with low availability of water make the environment intolerable for most crops (Control and Methods 2019). Installation of PV panels in agricultural land co-produce energy and crops (Weselek et al. 2019). The crops utilise shade from PV panels. The water that is consumed to clean PV panels is an added advantage to the crops. The PV panels in agrophotovoltaics are installed at a height that results in lower soiling of PV panels. The PV power plants should include agrophotovoltaics for the cultivation of crops or grazing animals.

5. Conclusions

In conclusion, this study highlights the significant gap between Saudi Arabia’s national renewable energy goals, as outlined in Vision 2030, and the current progress in adopting photovoltaic (PV) systems. Despite the ambitious target of installing 41 GW of renewable energy by 2032, the existing momentum falls short of achieving this objective. The government’s buyback rate for residential customers at 7 Halala/kWh reflects a relatively low incentive, posing a challenge to widespread PV adoption. Analysing a residential building scenario, a recommended Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) of 3.2 cents USD/kWh, with a 5% interest rate, yields a simple payback period of approximately 10 years. To address the diverse geographical landscape of Saudi Arabia, a range of PPAs is suggested, and the development of an app incorporating factors such as Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI), temperature, land cost, available load centres, and grid protection is proposed to facilitate accurate PPA calculations for specific locations. Introducing a net-zero energy building policy and offering higher electricity rates to government sector buildings, which often operate during sunlight hours, could bolster PV system integration. All new buildings should be designed to maximise the rooftop area for PV placement. To further enhance local penetration, the government should encourage mini and micro-PV plants, fostering investment from locals. These distributed systems can alleviate peak load issues, particularly during high air conditioner usage in summer, and reduce the impact of weather on overall PV production.

To support this widespread adoption, a robust infrastructure is essential. Highly skilled maintenance teams are required, and an app-based system for registration, operation, and feedback can streamline these processes. However, the existing deficit in renewable energy-focused education and training institutes underscores the need for a renewed emphasis on solar energy systems in technical education programmes. Moreover, stimulating local manufacturing of PV-related components and implementing a national grading system for product quality can not only create job opportunities but also reduce reliance on imports. The latter part of the study delves into the potential of using PV systems to address water shortages in the agricultural sector through modern techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and agrophotovoltaics. These methods are economically feasible. By employing PV energy systems in these methods of agriculture Saudi Arabia can achieve sustainability in food, water, and energy. These modern agricultural methods will create jobs for locals in rural and urban areas. Considering these findings, it is recommended that the government initiates a comprehensive PV policy, incentivising various stakeholders, including residential and commercial entities, as well as mini, micro-PV plant owners, and modern agricultural companies. Active involvement from both the government and the people of Saudi Arabia is crucial to achieving higher PV penetration, creating job opportunities, generating passive income, and attaining food, water, and energy sustainability in the country.

Availability of Data

Data is derived from public domain resources.

Acknowledgments

Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library

Notes on contributors

Muhammad Zubair

Muhammad Zubair received his PhD in Mechatronics Engineering from Jeju National University, South Korea in 2014. He is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Doha for Science and Technology, Qatar. His research interests include automation, solar energy, and renewable energy systems. He can be contacted at email: [email protected]