Macroeconomic, Energy and Emission Effects of Solar PV Deployment at Utility and Distributed Scales in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This study assesses the macroeconomic, energy and emissions impacts of solar photovoltaic (PV) deployment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the period 2021–2030. This is accomplished by linking an energy and environmental sector augmented macroeconometric model with a power model and a distributed generation model. Furthermore, this study distinguishes between the macroeconomic, energy and emissions impacts of PV deployment at the utility and distributed generation scales. To the best of our knowledge, these two aspects make this work novel. We analyze three scenarios: (i) fully government-funded utility-scale PV deployment, (ii) half-government-funded utility-scale PV deployment and (iii) household-funded distributed-generation-scale PV deployment, with some government support alongside a business-as-usual (BaU) scenario.