Economic Viability and Environmental Benefits of Integrating Solar Photovoltaics in Public Community Buildings

Mohannad Alhazmi (), Abdullah Alfadda and Abdullah Alfakhri
Additional contact information
Mohannad Alhazmi: Electrical Engineering Department, College of Applied Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
Abdullah Alfadda: Advanced Research Institute, Virginia Tech, Arlington, VA 22203, USA
Abdullah Alfakhri: Electrical Engineering Department, Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Saudi Arabia relies heavily on fossil fuels for electricity generation, leading to significant environmental challenges, including high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. This study evaluates the environmental and financial impacts of integrating solar PV systems in public buildings, specifically mosques and schools, in the central region of Saudi Arabia. Using machine learning-based forecasting, we analyzed power consumption and solar generation patterns. The results show that the integration of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems could lead to a reduction of 1.02 million tons of CO 2 emissions annually and a 48% decrease in net present cost. These findings highlight the potential of solar PV to mitigate environmental harm while offering financial benefits in alignment with Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy objectives

Keywords: load forecasting; machine learning; solar PV; ToU tariff; net present cost (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/3/705/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/3/705/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:3:p:705-:d:1582973

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().