Evaluation of optimal designs for hybrid renewable energy systems specific to residential communities in Saudi Arabia

To meet the increasing energy demand and to shave the peak, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is currently planning to invest more on renewable energy (RE) seeking diversity of energy resources. Through the integration of demand side management measures and renewable energy distributed generation (DG) systems, the study outlined in this paper aims at investigating the potential of hybrid renewable energy systems in supplying energy demands for residential communities in an oil-rich country. The residential community considered in this study, located in the eastern region of KSA, has an annual electrical usage of 1,174 GWh and an electrical peak load of 335 MW that are met solely by the grid. The results of the analyses indicated that the implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency measures (EEMs) reduced electricity usage by 38% and peak demand by 51% as well as CO2 emissions by 38%. While, the analysis of the hybrid systems showed that purchasing electricity from the grid is the best option with a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of $0.1/kWh based on the current renewable energy market and economic conditions of KSA, RE systems can be cost-effective to meet the loads of the residential communities under specific electricity prices and capital cost levels. This study can assist KSA decision makers establish effective and targeted policies that can facilitate and promote renewable technologies.