Grid-Assisted Rooftop Solar PV System: A Step toward Green Medina, KSA

ABSTRACT

The increasing demands of fossil fuels and its depleting resources are a major concern all over the world. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the electrical energy is produced mainly by petroleum products. This is not only increasing the carbon footprint and pollution levels, but also depleting the natural resources faster. Therefore, there is a need for the use of renewable energy sources. Considering the high levels of solar radiation, solar-powered systems are potentially the best suited for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The techno-economics of a grid-assisted solar powered water pumping systems is presented for two different cases using HOMER software. This paper presents two case studies for the city of Medina KSA for rooftop solar PV panels. For the purpose of reduction of load on the electrical grid, a grid-assisted solar PV system is proposed in the paper. By using this system, a considerable amount of pollution mitigation is also achieved for the city of Medina.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Solar PV
• green energy
• Medina
• grid assisted

Acknowledgement

The authors are thankful to the Department of Electrical Engineering, Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology, A.M.U. for providing the necessary facilities to carry out this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.