Scenario analysis of Saudi Arabia's residential solar energy incentives

IF 3.8 3区经济学 Q3 ENERGY & FUELS

Utilities Policy Pub Date : 2025-05-27 DOI:10.1016/j.jup.2025.101970

Sikandar Abdul Qadir , Amjad Ali , Md Tasbirul Islam , Muhammad Shahid

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Abstract

Incentives for renewable energy are essential for advancing sustainability; however, the global transition to renewable energy faces several challenges, including a lack of financing, particularly in countries where fossil fuels are subsidised. The residential sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia accounts for 48 % of the total generated electricity. This study focuses on reducing residential energy demand by promoting rooftop photovoltaic systems in tenant-occupied buildings, where direct installation is often impractical. To encourage investment, it is crucial to provide building owners with well-structured financial incentives that enhance the economic appeal of solar adoption. A comprehensive framework is proposed, incorporating capital incentives, production-based incentives, net metering, and net billing policies. Techno-economic analyses are conducted under various constraints to minimise the net present cost of solar PV systems, with further evaluation based on key economic indicators such as levelised energy cost, payback period, and return on investment. The results show that with a 50 % renewable energy share and applying all incentives, the NPC decreases from Saudi Rials (SAR) 703,974 to SAR 302,434, achieving an energy cost of SAR 0.097/kWh. The proposed framework offers a practical and economically viable pathway to accelerate solar energy adoption in residential buildings, contributing meaningfully to the sustainable energy transition.

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沙特阿拉伯住宅太阳能激励方案的情景分析

鼓励使用可再生能源对促进可持续发展至关重要；然而，全球向可再生能源的转型面临着一些挑战，包括缺乏资金，特别是在化石燃料得到补贴的国家。沙特阿拉伯王国的住宅部门占总发电量的48%。这项研究的重点是通过在租户居住的建筑物中推广屋顶光伏系统来减少住宅能源需求，在那里直接安装通常是不切实际的。为了鼓励投资，为建筑业主提供结构合理的财政激励措施是至关重要的，以提高采用太阳能的经济吸引力。提出了一个综合框架，包括资本激励、基于生产的激励、净计量和净计费政策。在各种限制条件下进行技术经济分析，以尽量减少太阳能光伏系统的净当前成本，并根据主要经济指标（如能源成本、投资回收期和投资回报）进行进一步评估。结果表明，在采用所有激励措施的情况下，50%的可再生能源份额，NPC从沙特里亚尔（SAR） 703,974下降到302,434，能源成本为0.097里亚尔/千瓦时。提出的框架提供了一个实用和经济可行的途径来加速太阳能在住宅建筑中的应用，为可持续能源转型做出有意义的贡献。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Utilities Policy ENERGY & FUELS-ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

CiteScore

6.80

自引率

10.00%

发文量

审稿时长

66 days

期刊介绍： Utilities Policy is deliberately international, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral. Articles address utility trends and issues in both developed and developing economies. Authors and reviewers come from various disciplines, including economics, political science, sociology, law, finance, accounting, management, and engineering. Areas of focus include the utility and network industries providing essential electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater, solid waste, communications, broadband, postal, and public transportation services. Utilities Policy invites submissions that apply various quantitative and qualitative methods. Contributions are welcome from both established and emerging scholars as well as accomplished practitioners. Interdisciplinary, comparative, and applied works are encouraged. Submissions to the journal should have a clear focus on governance, performance, and/or analysis of public utilities with an aim toward informing the policymaking process and providing recommendations as appropriate. Relevant topics and issues include but are not limited to industry structures and ownership, market design and dynamics, economic development, resource planning, system modeling, accounting and finance, infrastructure investment, supply and demand efficiency, strategic management and productivity, network operations and integration, supply chains, adaptation and flexibility, service-quality standards, benchmarking and metrics, benefit-cost analysis, behavior and incentives, pricing and demand response, economic and environmental regulation, regulatory performance and impact, restructuring and deregulation, and policy institutions.