Solar PV penetration in cities
Saudi Arabia has announced plans to build 20GW of photovoltaic (PV) electricity generating capacity by 2024 and 40GW by 2030. This research is addressing city-wide power supply coupled with energy efficiency at a city level. The relationship between the consumption, economics, social and environmental aspects as well as grid impact will be assessed through different scenarios in two case studies.
Supply chain readiness for renewable energy expansion in KSA
Saudi Arabia is aiming to intensify the adoption and the advocacy of their renewable energy sector, to localise 30% in the short term and 60% in the long term of its value chain. To achieve this, a local content market should be large enough to supply the planned 27GW capacity contained with 35+ renewable energy farms by 2024 with additional capacity of 59GW by 2030. Although Saudi Arabia has excellent natural wind and solar resources, the current supply chain and skills sets are not adequate for planned future expansion in renewable energy. This research aims to identify optimised approach to solar PV supply chain geared to support higher local content. It will also address opportunities to reduce skills shortage in the sector. It will propose practical recommendations as to how to achieve the development of these areas and how the recommendations can be adapted and augmented to support KSA Vision 2030 and its targets.
