The Gap Between Oil & Decarbonization in Saudi Arabia Project

This project delves into the critical issue of transitioning Saudi Arabia, a major oil-exporting nation, towards renewable energy sources, specifically focusing on the installation of rooftop solar panels in Jeddah. The research addresses the current energy crisis, the environmental and health impacts of non-renewable energy, and the economic viability of solar energy. It includes primary research on household preferences, a literature review on solar panel technologies, and an analysis of the market and economic factors influencing the shift. The project proposes the implementation of solar panels to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, mitigate environmental damage, and improve public health, with detailed considerations of costs, financing, and potential challenges, like climatic and demographic barriers. The project also provides SWOT, PESTLE, and risk analyses, as well as a simulation of on-grid solar energy consumption, and concludes with recommendations for future implementation and expansion of solar energy initiatives in Saudi Arabia, emphasizing the importance of government support and strategic interventions to facilitate a sustainable energy transition.

Running head: The gap between an oil-rich country and the movement to decarbonise the energy sources in Saudi
Arabia
THE GAP BETWEEN AN OIL-RICH COUNTRY AND THE
MOVEMENT TO DECARBONIZE THE ENERGY SOURCES IN
SAUDI ARABIA

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The gap between an oil-rich country and the movement to decarbonise the energy sources in Saudi Arabia
Executive Summary
Saudi Arabia is one of the largest exporters of oil and most of its revenue comes from
their export business of oil. It has been observed that currently, there has been an increased
prevalence of the use of non-renewable sources of energy in Saudi Arabia. Presently, the proven
oil reserves that are present in Saudi Arabia are about 268 billion of barrels that would last about
the next 70 years. Therefore, it is essential that the government of Saudi Arabia take certain steps
in order to mitigate this issue of the increased use of non-renewable sources of energy. In the
past few years, this country has been facing energy crisis for non-renewable sources of energy.
Therefore, the government has planned to use their natural resources in order to mitigate this
issue of the prevalent energy crisis.
The government of Saudi Arabia needs to take specific measures in order to minimize the
use of non-renewable sources of energy as it impacts the health status of most of the people.
Most of the people of Saudi Arabia suffer from chronic pulmonary disorders and therefore, it is
essential to use these renewable sources of energy. Renewable source of energy is highly
effective in replenishing these non-renewable sources of energy and can be used for generating
power. It has been seen that most of the countries are switching to these renewable sources of
energy in order to save power for their sustainable use in the future.
The main aim of this research study is to propose a solar panel installation on rooftop
houses in Jeddah. The previous researchers have failed to mention the efficiency of using solar
panels during night time or during rainy days. Moreover, the researchers had not installed any
solar panels and therefore, majority of the house uses non-renewable sources of energy. This
appraised literature would detail the necessities of installing such solar panels in Jeddah in order
to ensure high usage of solar energy for generating electricity. Moreover, a detailed investigation

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The gap between an oil-rich country and the movement to decarbonise the energy sources in Saudi Arabia
of the rooftop materials would also be evaluated in this research study. In this study, both
primary, as well as secondary research has been undertaken that highlight the necessities of using
renewable sources of energy. A primary research on households was carried out in order to
understand their perception regarding the installation of rooftop solar panels on their houses.
Most of them have revealed that they would prefer to use such solar panels for generating
electricity, however; such panels should not harm the existing infrastructures of their houses.
The proposed research project has been enriched by the previous works of scholars on
this issue. Hence, it may be influenced by published facts pertaining to the current socio-
economic conditions prevailing in Saudi Arabia. The nation is targeting an investment of
approximately forty-seven billions in the next three years to install photovoltaic cells in the
domestic electrical grid. The proposed plan involves a steady supply of 10% of total power
demand (9,500 MW) through solar energy. The proposed solar plant is planned to install in
Jeddah due to the area being abundantly exposed to sunlight.
An adequate amount of available sunlight would help these solar panels to store a high
amount of solar energy that could be converted into electricity. Therefore, this high availability
and exposure to sunlight would help these houses to get a continuous flow of electricity. The
overall cost for conventional generation electricity is supported by the government. Thus, it is
anticipated that the Saudi Arabian government may extend the required funding for the proposed
solar power project. Saudi Arabian government can use issue-specific intervention strategies to
mitigate obstacles related to climatic and demographic barriers. Saudi Arabia exhibits the effect
of prolonged mining and urbanisation on climate and its effect on human activities like power
generation.
Summary of the opportunity

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The gap between an oil-rich country and the movement to decarbonise the energy sources in Saudi Arabia
Installation of rooftop solar panels would overall help the houses of Jeddah to receive a
continuous flow of electricity. Furthermore, Jeddah is exposed to high sources of solar energy
and therefore, the installation of solar panels would be highly beneficial. Moreover, it can also be
seen that most of the households do not have any issue with such installation of rooftop solar
panels. Thus, the researcher has planned to install such kind of rooftop solar panels in order to
store a huge amount of solar energy and later convert it to electricity. This sort of using solar
energy would help to minimize the raise non-renewable energy crisis that affects the entire
country.

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The gap between an oil-rich country and the movement to decarbonise the energy sources in Saudi Arabia
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 8
1.1 Introduction 8
1.2 Research scope 8
1.3 Significance of the research 9
1.4 Rationale 10
1.5 Problem statement 13
1.6 Aim and objectives 14
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 15
2.1 Introduction 15
2.2 Current planning of Saudi Arabia regarding the use of non-renewable sources of energy 15
2.3 Significance of domestic installation of solar panels 16
2.3.1 Use of semiconductors 19
2.3.2 Conduction of electricity and the energy bands 19
2.3.3 Semiconductors in solar panel 21
2.4 Monocrystalline silicon solar cells 21
2.4.1 Crystalline silicon cells with their advantage and disadvantage in generating solar
energy 22
2.4.2 Thin film solar cells with their advantage and disadvantage in generating the solar
energy 23
2.5 Diffusion and adoption protocol 26

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The gap between an oil-rich country and the movement to decarbonise the energy sources in Saudi Arabia
2.5.1 Robert and urban model of a rooftop solar system 27
2.6 Photovoltaic modules in generation of solar energy 28
2.6.1 Photovoltaic system and solar panel 31
2.6.2 Power conditioning equipment 32
2.6.3 Photovoltaic arrays 33
2.7 Irradiance on the solar collector plane 34
2.8 Grid connected rooftop solar systems 36
2.8.1 Role of inverter in case of grid-connected solar panels 36
2.8.2 Advantages and disadvantages of grid-connected solar panels 37
2.9 Demand of distributed power supply 38
2.10 Organic photovoltaic technologies 40
2.11 Credibility of organic photovoltaic technologies in domestic power grids 41
2.12 Gap in literature 43
2.13 Conclusion 44
CHAPTER 3: SCOOPING OF THE PROJECT 46
CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY 49
4.1 Research philosophy 49
4.2 Research approach 50
4.3 Research design 50
4.4 Data collection tools and techniques 50
4.4 Data analysis tools and techniques 51
4.5 Primary market research 51

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The gap between an oil-rich country and the movement to decarbonise the energy sources in Saudi Arabia
4.6 Stakeholders analysis 53
4.7 Costing and financing 54
CHAPTER 5: ECONOMIC STATUS OF SAUDI ARABIA TO PRODUCE SOLAR ENERGY
55
5.1 Introduction 55
5.2 Energy generation 55
5.3 Economics of Solar Energy 56
5.4 Steps of government for solar energy 58
5.5 Need for production of alternative energies 59
5.6 The environmental condition of Saudi Arabia 60
5.7 Factors that are required for driving Renewable Energy in Saudi Arabia 62
5.8 Domestic Energy demand in Saudi Arabia 64
5.11 Value proposition to reduce carbon dependency 69
5.12 Preservation of contingency and regulation 70
CHAPTER 6: MARKET ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY DEMAND 72
6.1 Analysis of the current market 72
6.2 Participation of local human resource 75
6.3 Constraints of the project 76
6.4 SWOT analysis 77
6.5 Work Breakdown: 79
6.6 Gantt Chart 82
6.7 PESTLE analysis 83
6.6 Project specification 85

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The gap between an oil-rich country and the movement to decarbonise the energy sources in Saudi Arabia
6.7 Material and technology costs 86
6.8 Cash flow 87
6.9 Simulation of on-grid solar energy consumption 88
6.10 FORSA design 90
6.11 Risk analysis 90
6.12 Environmental impact assessment 92
Quality of air and the greenhouse gases 93
CHAPTER 7: GENERATION OF ENERGY 94
7.1 Significance of renewable sources of energy 94
7.2 Saudi Arabia and non renewable sources of energy 95
7.3 Saudi Arabia and its solar form of energy 96
7.4 Biomass-based solar panels 96
7.5 Solar Photovoltaics 97
7.6 Types of solar technology 98
7.7 Demand for solar energy in Saudi Arabia 99
7.8 Proposed uses of solar panel in bigger project and manufacturing department 101
CHAPTER 8: FUNDING AND COSTING 106
Sources of finance 106
Financial expenditure 107
CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 109
Conclusion 109
Objective linking 109

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The gap between an oil-rich country and the movement to decarbonise the energy sources in Saudi Arabia
Recommendation 110
Future scope 110
Appendices 126
Appendix A: Questionnaire 126

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The gap between an oil-rich country and the movement to decarbonise the energy sources in Saudi Arabia
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Renewable energy provides a promising intervention in a world that is battling the issue
of resource depletion. This form of energy is highly effective in replenishing the non-renewable
form of energy that often affects the natural environment. Furthermore, renewable energy is
widely available than their non-renewable counterparts and this implies that renewable sources
of energy can be used for a prolonged period of time. Addition of annual capacity in case of
renewable energy can be reported to exceed combined usage of fossil fuels. In the year 2015,
renewable technologies have encouraged approximately $300 billion investment that has yielded
23% of worldwide generation of power. International Energy Agency asserts renewable energy
to create larger contribution in the mix of global power production, in comparison to fossil fuels.
The photovoltaic electrical grid is one of such promising technologies that make use of
renewable energies available in the vicinity and this will be discussed in detail in the later part of
this research study.
1.2 Research scope
The advent of technology has given rise to the extensive use of non-renewable sources of
energy without calculating its impact on the environment. It has been observed that Saudi Arabia
has been using these non-renewable sources of energy. This affected the health of many citizens
and therefore, it is essential to take an initiative for installing panels to store renewable sources
of energy. Moreover, this source of energy does not seem to pollute the environment and
therefore, it is highly eco-friendly. Countries with a rich natural heritage like New Zealand and
Canada have already initiated the switch to alternative energy sources to meet the power

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The gap between an oil-rich country and the movement to decarbonise the energy sources in Saudi Arabia
demands of their population. The population of Saudi Arabia is about 3.23 crores and therefore,
they have an extensive need for electricity during their summer time. Majority of the residents of
Saudi Arabia has been using this non-renewable sources of energy, fossil fuels and this have
tremendous impact on the health condition of the people. The geographical position of Saudi
Arabia ensures exposure to high temperature and therefore, it is easy to store this solar energy
and later convert it into electricity.
Saudi Arabia has been one of the greatest oil producers and this country meets about 40%
of the oil requirement globally. Therefore, it can be said that this enormous amount of oil
production has resulted in increased use of non-renewable sources of energy. Moreover, Lane
(2018) commented that the majority of the revenue of the SA government comes from their
export and import oil business. The aforementioned usage has also given rise to the level of
aerosols and fly-ash into the atmospheric contents due to the combustion of fossil fuels. It has
been observed that this fly-ash affects the health of the exposed people. As opined by Mortimer,
Rosseinsky & Monk (2015), most of the affected people suffer from pulmonary syndromes that
often become chronic and affect them in the long term. This situation has given rise to the need
for an alternative source of power in Saudi Arabia. Due to the abundance of sunlight in the
region, extraction of solar energy to generate thermal and electrical power is a plausible
intervention.
1.3 Significance of the research
There has been an increased use of non-renewable sources of energy that impacted the
health of most of the people. Furthermore, SA has large oil reserves and is one of the leading
exporters of oil. However, the government of SA has taken steps to minimize the usage of these
non-renewable sources of energy and switch to the use of their alternative sources of energy. As

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The gap between an oil-rich country and the movement to decarbonise the energy sources in Saudi Arabia
per the statistical data, Saudi Arabia has already initiated the strategies to operate solar farms for
commercial purposes in Dhahran (Weforum.org, 2018). However, domestication of solar power
is yet to achieve in this nation. Due to the nation's vast oil resources, the population is reluctant
to shift to solar energy cells presuming that such oil reserves are sufficient to last long. However,
Jen et al. (2014) opined that the residents have little information and knowledge regarding the
devastating impact of the use of non-renewable sources of energy. Another reason for this
reluctance can be due to the fact that the installation of new photovoltaic power grids can cost
exhaustive in nature. Furthermore, the majority of the household believed that such an
installation of solar panels on their rooftops could destroy their building configuration.
1.4 Rationale
The main issue is that in Saudi Arabia, there has been extensive use of non-renewable
sources of energy. It has been observed that they have been involved in exporting these oil
reserves in order to incur high revenue and augment the economy of this country. However,
recently, there has been an awareness regarding the extensive use of non-renewable sources of
energy and the government has been planning to replace these non-renewable sources of energy
with the renewable one.
It has been observed that the majority of the revenue of Saudi Arabia's government
depends on the export business of oil and non-renewable sources of energy. Therefore, it is
essential to understand the concept of these renewable sources of energy and its need for
ensuring a sustained and pollution-free environment. Furthermore, the issues regarding the
prolonged use of non-renewable sources have also been summarised and this would also help the
households to understand the importance of using renewable sources of energy. As opined by
Lane (2018), a huge amount of methane and carbon dioxide are liberated due to the combustion