The global energy and environmental scenarios face serious challenges. It is believed that buildings through their life cycle and energy consumption have an important contribution in this respect. Saudi Arabia is a developing country that has one of the highest rates of energy and environmental emissions. The buildings sector account for almost 80% of the total national electricity consumption. It is important to promote sustainability in the building sector to reduce the energy and environmental problems facing the country. Renewable energy supplies can be an effective solution to provide environmentally friendly energy to buildings. The country has rich potential for solar energy. Solar photovoltaic (PV) can be an appropriate technology to harness the immense solar potential.  This study focuses on the assessment of solar PV potential in the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), one of the largest universities in the country. It employs PVsyst and RetScreen programs to investigate the potential for solar PV on the roof tops of the entire campus buildings, offering a total site area of 505,164 m². The findings of the work reveal that application of PV systems on the KFUPM building roof tops can produce 37,746 MWh of electricity per year. This amount covers 16.4% of KFUPM’s total electricity consumption. The installed PV systems will save the environment from 32,952 tons CO2/year.

Title

6th International Congress of Energy and Environment Engineering and Management (CIIEM15)

Publisher

6th International Congress of Energy and Environment Engineering and Management (CIIEM15)

Publisher Country

France

Publication Type

Prtinted only

Volume

--

Year

2015

Pages

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