• Energy Research

This paper presents models and economic analysis of ten different wind turbines for the region of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia using the hybrid optimization models for energy resources (HOMER) software. This study serves as a guide for decision makers to choose the most suitable wind turbine for Yanbu to meet the target of 58.7GW of renewable energy as part of Saudi Vision 2030. The analysis was carried out based on the turbines initial capital cost, operating cost, net present cost (NPC) and the levelized cost of energy (LCOE). Additionally, the wind turbines were compared based on their electricity production, excess energy and the size of the storage devices required. The results show that Enercon E-126 EP4 wind turbine has the least LCOE (0.0885 $/kWh) and NPC ($23.8), while WES 30 has the highest LCOE (0.142 $/kWh) and NPC ($38.3) for a typical load profile of a village in Yanbu.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) deployment is rapidly expanding around the world. However, the soiling factor has an impact on its performance. Saudi Arabia has high solar irradiation and plans to diversify its energy mix for electricity generation by deploying more solar PV across the country. However, it is located in an arid and desert environment, making it a challenging project due to dust accumulation on solar modules. The soiling and PV performance in Saudi Arabia are examined in this paper. Furthermore, it highlights several mitigation techniques that can be used to maintain PV performance through preventive and restorative measures. Furthermore, this study looks into the size and characterization of dust in Saudi Arabia, as well as the entire life cycle of dust accumulation on PV modules. In this review study, the performance of solar PV systems is evaluated under soiling in different regions of Saudi Arabia. Depending on the local environment and other factors, the PV performance has been reduced by somewhere between 2% and 50%. A single sandstorm reduced the module power output by 20%. As revealed in Dhahran, the PV module was exposed to an outdoor environment and not cleaned for 6 months resulting in a power drop of more than 50%. It is strongly advised to clean PV panels once a month or fewer to maintain a high-performance system. However, in the event of a dust storm, it is advised to clean the system immediately to avoid a major decline in PV performance. The bi-facial PV solar panels technology associated with solar trackers and utilizing robotic cleaning systems have maximized the received solar irradiation and minimized the soiling loss efficiently. The most common elements found in dust particles are primarily derived from the natural desert. It has been noted that the composition and sizes of dust particles depend heavily on the location of the PV module. It is concluded that dust accumulation and cleaning costs are not a significant barrier to large-scale, cost-effective solar PV deployments in Saudi Arabia, particularly in the central region, which is considered a high-suitable region for utility-size PV plants due to many factors. The results of this study are essential for enlightening the PV engineering community, investors, and the research community about how soiling may affect regions with significant solar potential, such as Saudi Arabia, and what potential soiling mitigation strategies may be considered to maintain high-performance solar PV projects.

Improving photovoltaic systems in terms of temporal responsiveness, lowering steady-state ripples, high efficiency, low complexity, and decreased tracking time under various circumstances is becoming increasingly important. A particle-swarm optimizer (PSO) is frequently used for maximum power-point tracking (MPPT) of photovoltaic (PV) energy systems. However, during partial-shadowing circumstances (PSCs), this technique has three major drawbacks. The first problem is that it slowly converges toward the maximum power point (MPP). The second issue is that the PSO is a time-invariant optimizer; therefore, when there is a time-variable shadow pattern (SP), it adheres to the first global peak instead of following the dynamic global peak (GP). The third problem is the high oscillation around the steady state. Therefore, this article proposes a hybrid PSO-PID algorithm for solving the PSO’s three challenges described above and improving the PV system’s performance under uniform irradiance and PSCs. The PID is designed to work with the PSO algorithm to observe the maximum voltage that is calculated by subtracting from the output voltage of the DC-DC boost converter and sending the variation to a PID controller, which reduces the error percentage obtained by conventional PSO and increases system efficiency by providing the precise converter-duty cycle value. The proposed hybrid PSO-PID approach is compared with a conventional PSO and bat algorithms (BAs) to show its superiority, which has the highest tracking efficiency (99.97%), the lowest power ripples (5.9 W), and the fastest response time (0.002 s). The three aforementioned issues can be successfully solved using the hybrid PSO-PID technique; it also offers good performance with shorter times and faster convergence to the dynamic GP. The results show that the developed PID is useful in enhancing the conventional PSO algorithm and solar-system performance.

Understanding the impact of global warming and the availability of renewable sources has motivated many countries to utilize solar and wind as an alternative to conventional energy sources. One county at the forefront in the development of these technologies is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). In KSA, investing in wind and solar energy is important because the country’s load demand is rapidly increasing, coupled with the over-reliance on fossil fuels. By fully utilizing the multi-year and the advanced battery storage modules in HOMER, in this paper, the techno-economic viability of utilizing a PV/wind/diesel/battery system for a remote location of Al-Jouf in the KSA has been investigated. The novelty of the work presented in this paper is that for the first time a PV/wind/diesel/battery system has been designed for the KSA, taking into account the impact of multi-year and advanced battery storage parameters such as the increase in fuel price, PV degradation, increase in the consumer load and battery degradation. Besides, due to the high temperatures experienced at Al-Jouf during the summer season, this paper investigates the sensitivity of ambient temperature on the system’s performance. The result shows that the multi-year input and battery degradation parameters have a significant impact on the system output over the 25 year lifetime of the project. PV production has dropped by 11.3%, while diesel production rose to 38% thereby increasing fuel consumption and CO2 emission. The system’s LCOE and NPC are 0.204 and USD206,919 respectively. According to the sensitivity analysis, ambient temperature has a significant impact on battery performance and PV power generation.

Abstract This research contributes to the ongoing discussions about the grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and draws attention to the optimal design by considering various PV array tracking systems towards enhancing the power generation. The PV tracking system configurations considered in this study include horizontal-axis (monthly adjustment, weekly adjustment, daily adjustment, continuous adjustment), vertical-axis (continuous adjustment), and a two-axis tracking system. HOMER (Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources) software is employed whereas the actual data required by the model have been collected in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The results show that the two-axis tracker can produce 34% more power than the fixed system, while the vertical axis tracker with continuous adjustment was able to generate up to 20% more power than the fixed system. Horizontal tracker with continuous adjustment shows the highest net present cost (NPC) and the highest levelized cost of energy (LCOE), with a high penetration of solar energy to the grid. For the case of Makkah, the vertical axis tracker with continuous adjustment is the best option as it has low LCOE and NPC values with a positive return on investment (ROI) as well as high renewable energy penetration to the grid, which enhances its viability for a utility-size solar PV grid-connected system.

Abstract This paper uses research-quality, ground measurements of irradiance and temperature that are accurate to ±2% to estimate the electric energy yield of fixed solar modules for utility-scale solar power plants at 18 sites in Saudi Arabia. The calculation is performed for a range of tilt and azimuth angles and the orientation that gives the optimum annual energy yield is determined. A detailed analysis is presented for Riyadh including the impact of non-optimal tilt and azimuth angles on annual energy yield. It is also found that energy yield in March and October are higher than in April and September, due to milder operating temperatures of the modules. A similar optimization of tilt and azimuth is performed each month separately. Adjusting the orientation each month increases energy yield by 4.01% compared to the annual optimum, but requires considerable labour cost. Further analysis shows that an increase in energy yield of 3.63% can be obtained by adjusting the orientation at five selected times during the year, thus significantly reducing the labour requirement. The optimal orientation and corresponding energy yield for all 18 sites is combined with a site suitability analysis taking into account climate, topography and proximity to roads, transmission lines and protected areas. Six sites are selected as having high suitability and high energy yield: Albaha, Arar, Hail, Riyadh, Tabuk and Taif. For these cities the optimal tilt is only slightly higher than the latitude, however the optimum azimuth is from 20° to 53° west of south due to an asymmetrical daily irradiance profile.

Abstract Saudi Arabia is establishing ground-monitoring stations for solar irradiance and wind speed. Seven of these, at locations distributed throughout the Kingdom, have recently provided highly accurate data, which are used in the present paper to perform an economic assessment for off-grid renewable energy projects based on load data for a typical Saudi Arabian village. Using future projections of capital costs, this paper analyses wind/battery, PV/battery, and PV/wind/battery systems for projects in these seven location starting in 2019, 2022, and 2025, thus facilitating the planning of when and where to schedule installations. Wind/battery systems have a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) 2.2 to 3.2 times higher than PV/wind/battery and PV/battery systems except in Yanbu, a windy coastal city. In 2019, PV/wind/battery systems have the lowest LCOE in Yanbu ($0.112/kWh) and Sharurah ($0.118/kWh), whereas PV/battery systems are preferable in Al-Jouf, Al-Wajh, Hafr-batin, Jeddah and Riyadh with a range of LCOE from $0.119/kWh to $0.129/kWh. The projected decline in PV and battery costs to 2025 is more rapid than the decline in wind turbine costs so that if projects are deferred, PV/battery systems have the lowest LCOE in each location in 2025. In that year Al-Jouf and Jeddah have the lowest LCOE ($0.711/kWh) and Hafr-batin has the highest ($0.76/kWh). Part of the reason for solar being more economic than wind is the better hourly and monthly match between generation and load, a large proportion of which is air conditioning. As a further contribution, this paper provides a geographical summary of results for policymakers to prioritize cities for the implementation of off-grid RE systems in Saudi Arabia going forward.

Abstract Renewable energy sources are seen as potential alternatives for future energy generation and fossil fuel consumption. In this paper, we propose a multicriteria decision making approach based on analytical hierarchy process for evaluating five renewable power generation sources namely: solar photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, wind energy, biomass, and geothermal. The criteria used can be categorized as technical, socio-political, economic, and environmental criteria. A case study for Saudi Arabia is provided as a major oil producer and global supplier. The results of our study show that solar photovoltaic followed by concentrated solar power are the most favorable technologies followed by wind energy. The performance of each renewable energy resource per end-node criteria is presented and sensitivity analysis is conducted to observe how the overall rankings of alternatives change with respect to the priority weights of each criteria. By implementing energy mix policy, Saudi Arabia can preserve its finite energy resources for the future to back its strong economic and industrial growth. The findings of this research will help the prioritization of RE sources portfolio towards enhanced sustainability and development.