Integrating renewable energy in Sabah Al-Ahmad City: A techno-economic and environmental analysis

Kuwait’s dependence on fossil fuels for power generation presents significant sustainability and environmental challenges. This study explores the integration of photovoltaic (PV) systems into the urban energy grid of Sabah Al-Ahmad City as a pathway to cleaner energy. The methodology optimizes PV tilt angles based on location using HelioScope simulations and identifies suitable installation sites through Geographic Information Systems (GIS). It further evaluates environmental impacts, technical requirements, and economic performance using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Net Present Value (NPV) analysis. GIS identified 70 government rooftops and nearby solar farm sites for PV deployment. The optimal tilt angle of 30° yielded 216.9 MWh, a performance ratio of 76.9 %, and an energy yield of 1628.0 kW h/kWp. Rooftop systems use 550 W panels and 117 inverters (8.19 MW), requiring 2.47 million feet of cable, while solar farms include 22,600 kW inverters, 20,704 720 W panels (14.9 MW), and 944,560 feet of cable. Losses are mainly due to temperature (6.6 %) and inverters (3.5 %) in farms, and shading (9.9 %) and mismatch (8.7 %) on rooftops. LCA estimates emissions at 0.0942 kg CO₂-eq/kW h, leading to a reduction of 2.50 × 10⁷ kg CO₂ annually. NPV analysis indicates an annualized cost of $659,803.80 (8.75 cents/kW h), yielding savings of 2.91 cents/kW h over 25 years. These findings underscore the potential of PV deployment in advancing energy diversification, emissions reduction, and long-term sustainability, positioning Sabah Al-Ahmad as a model for green urban development that can inspire other regions to follow suit.