CAN I RELY ON
SOLAR ENERGY ALONE TO MEET ALL MY ENERGY NEEDS?
CAN I USE SOLAR
ENERGY TO ONLY POWER MY LIGHTS OR AC?
In general, solar energy is great for peak shaving in Saudi Arabia. This means that solar can provide cheap, clean energy during the daytime hours, to complement an existing source of power and help feed all required loads. It is possible to have storage using batteries, but that technology is still quite expensive compared to the cost of subsidized power in the kingdom.
SOLAR ENERGY IN SAUDI ARABIA
ELECTRICITY PRICES ARE GOING IN ONLY ONE DIRECTION
The Saudi government is set to raise electricity prices to market levels by the mid 2020’s
THE COST OF SOLAR IS GOING IN ANOTHER
At the commercial and industrial scale, solar energy is now the cheapest source of power for most on-grid and off-grid energy consumers.
HERE ARE THREE REASONS WHY SOLAR IS NOW A GREAT INVESTMENT FOR BUSINESSES IN SAUDI ARABIA
1
At the commercial and industrial scale, solar energy is now the cheapest source of power for most on-grid and off-grid energy consumers.
Levelised Cost of Solar PV
vs. Saudi Electricity Tariffs, USD cents
2
In Saudi Arabia, we use a lot of AC for cooling during the day, especially in the summer months. Luckily, that’s also when our solar panels produce the most energy. Solar energy provides an energy profile that aligns with the heavy use of cooling systems in the Kingdom.
Electricity Demand vs. GHI Profiles
GHI
Electricity demand
3
A solar panel costs the same in Saudi as it does in Germany, but you get twice as much energy generation from that same panel here over the course of a year. We’ve got plenty of long and sunny days.
This chart shows Global Horizontal Irradiation (GHI), which is a measure of how much solar energy falls on a square meter per year. The table compares the Saudi GHI figure with European leaders in solar development.
| Germany | 1066 |
| UK | 972 |
| Portugal | 1632 |
| Spain | 1659 |
| Saudi Arabia | 2216 |
HOW DOES SOLAR ENERGY WORK?
We get a lot of questions about how solar works, what it can help you do, and what it can’t. So we’ve created this infographic to explain the process step by step.
DC & AC Power
PV produces energy as Direct Current which then has to be converted in Alternating Current to power common appliances such as HVAC, lighting, or motors.
SCADA
The Supervisory Control and
Data Acquisition system,
monitors and controls how the
solar energy interacts with your baseload power.
MDB
The Main Distribution Board is where your energy supply and energy demand meet.