Rooftop Solar PV Policy Assessment of Global Best Practices and Lessons Learned for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The growth in global electricity demand, price volatility, and global warming is diverting the attention of power producers to look for alternative green energy sources, more specifically, solar photovoltaic (SPV). Rooftop solar PV (RSPV) is a significant contributor to the successful development and deployment of SPV in any country. Therefore, developing countries such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are seeking alternative energy sources. According to climatological studies, Saudi Arabia has an average of 3230 sun hours annually, indicating significant potential for producing solar energy. The article investigated the characteristics of policies of countries that have had massive success in developing RSPV systems like China, the US, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and India). Each country has its unique policies that result in many policy structures. Therefore, it is beyond the content of this report to provide a complete overview of all policies for the selected countries. Instead, information will focus on specific aspects of solar policy in each of the seven countries. As part of the RSPV policy assessment in Saudi Arabia, this study shows the key vectors of the selected countries’ success in their rooftop policies’ examination, and eventually, it presents a clear policy assessment of KSA’s rooftop solar PV policy.