Towards solar panels for Qatar homes: Challenges, feasibility assessment, and proposed data driven framework for deployment, performance monitoring, and energy management

Abstract

Despite Qatar’s obvious massive latent solar power potential, panel deployment has primarily occurred in major plants, with negligible residential deployment in homes, despite inherent advantages and government subsidies. Therefore, this research explores reasons behind the low deployment of solar panels, conducts a feasibility study, and recommends a deployment framework to encourage solar panel adoption within Qatar. This initiative aims to contribute to the country’s transformation towards clean energy, and align with Qatar’s National Vision 2030, as well as global efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Following an initial review of related literature, challenges facing solar panel deployment in Qatar were identified, followed by an analytical feasibility study to assess different scenarios involving varying numbers of panels with different efficiencies. This analysis compared the generated energy against typical home consumption and explored the feasibility of selling surplus energy locally or internationally during periods of low consumption. Subsequently, a field survey was conducted in Qatari homes to determine the practicability of solar panel rooftop installation. This led to the development of a data-driven model to enable dynamic decision-making for monitoring and efficiently managing and maintaining deployed solar panels, ensuring sustainable energy generation. The research outcomes demonstrated a high potential for deploying solar panels within Qatar using medium or high-efficiency panels, which could meet local energy needs and potentially export surplus energy. Furthermore, Qatari house roofs were found to have approximately 50 percent of available space, with good accessibility and orientation for maximising energy generation. The data-driven model proved to be instrumental in monitoring dust accumulation, planning cleaning operations, and tracking energy degradation due to panel aging, among other data requirements for analysis, forecasting, and management purposes. Integration with the proposed deployment framework provides stakeholders with a clear roadmap to achieve their clean energy goals and facilitate the transition towards cleaner energy sources.