The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has the natural capability and capacity to play a key role in and lead the renewable energy industry. It possesses the economic and environmental elements required to produce different forms of renewable energy. This provides significant growth potential for preserving current resources, achieving balance, meeting the needs of future generations, and achieving long-term economic growth.

By 2030, Saudi Arabia wants to attain the environmentally friendly, optimal, most efficient, and least expensive energy mix in the production of electricity by replacing liquid fuel with natural gas and renewables, which will each account for half of the energy mix. Figure 1 shows the location of Yanbu City in Saudi Arabia Map. This helps in the localization of manufacturing solar and wind energy components, the advancement of their technologies, and the development of national human cadres. Solar energy and wind energy are the most common renewable energy sources, and they are preferable to traditional energy sources since they are clean energy. In both grid-connected and off-grid power systems, these two energy sources received great attention.

Global warming has caused a significant rise in temperature over the years, leading to changes in climatic conditions throughout the world. The climatic changes have brought new challenges in the form of heavy rains, flooding, and heavy cyclones generally in the entire world and, more specifically, in the countries most vulnerable to abrupt climatic changes (Shafiq et al., 2022).

On the other hand, to deal with global warming, a swift transition toward renewable power generation is the top priority at the global level. Thus, a common question among the research community is how to make the power system more resilient and reliable while utilizing renewable energy resources under prolonged harsh weather conditions that cause faults and blackouts (Iqbal et al., 2022a).

Solar energy can be converted into electricity using the PV effect or into heat energy using the solar thermal effect. The wind is always blowing somewhere because of the Earth’s varying temperatures and pressure, and locational factors such as geography and terrain also play a role. The wind’s kinetic energy can be harnessed by wind converters, called wind turbines, and transformed it into usable electrical or mechanical power (Iqbal et al., 2022b).

One of the most important parts of a hybrid solar PV and wind system is energy storage, which is utilized to store excess energy until needed. This paper presents a techno-economic-environmental study of more than 10 cases of PV/wind/battery grid-connected and off-grid systems for supplying Yanbu city with the best energy solution possible using renewable energy sources.

Assorted studies have been conducted to find the optimal renewable sources based on the availability of renewable energy with different techniques (Mohamed et al., 2015). Utilizing iterative optimization to size an off-grid hybrid PV/wind/diesel/battery energy system, the researchers’ main objective was to find the optimum size of each component for the cheapest produced energy and the cheapest dummy energy at the maximum level of reliability, and they used 10 types of wind turbines to choose the best type (Shambhu et al., 2021). This study provides two optimal options for each on-grid and off-grid case for fully renewable energy and diversified energy. Twenty-four solutions were given, and the results indicate that a PV/wind/grid combination with an energy cost of $0.044 is the best option for Willingdon Island. Alharthi et al. (2018) tried a similar approach using different renewable energy sources as a solution to the continuous use of fossil fuels as the primary source of power, which increases the operational environmental effect of electricity generation, and the suggested grid-connected solar PV/wind hybrid system is both economically and environmentally viable. Rezk et al. (2020) followed the same approach but with various sources using off-grid PV/fuel-cell/battery hybrid energy systems.

There are various research studies on different tracking techniques. Mubaarak et al. (2020) studied a combination of grid-connected PV/fuel-cell hybrid systems applying major types of PV tracking techniques, and the results showed that the vertical single-axis tracker was the best choice. In another study, Kaddoura et al. (2016) performed Sun tracking in different cities in Saudi Arabia to find the optimum tilt: for example, in Jeddah, during the summer months, the Sun will be in the northern path, so PV panels should be tilted to the north, but in winter, the Sun will be in the southern path, and we can find the optimum annual fixed tilt between them (Sinha and Chandel, 2014; Malik et al., 2022).

Bahramara et al. (2016) and Konneh et al. (2021) carried out different techniques with different components such as scheduling strategies, PV modules, and solar-tracking systems in a hybrid off-grid system with each scenario including a scheduling strategy, a Sun-tracking system, and a specific type of PV module. Also, the results could vary with different approaches to the maximum PV obtained using a two-axis tracking system (Zhang et al., 2022).

For scheduling, a diesel generator operating only during the rainy season with the Canadian Solar Dymond PV module was considered the best approach in the study. The goal of the study by Sinha and Chandel (2014) was to use the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables (HOMER) software to determine the optimal type of solar PV for use in Sudan.

The aforementioned studies were specific to a location or a region. The literature review shows the potential of solar and wind energy by using different techniques to make them more viable and cost-effective.

This section focuses on the design and method principles of the system under consideration. In this study, we used HOMER software to explore an ideal solution for the city to evaluate the possibility of implementing renewable energy systems to minimize challenges connected to power affordability, dependability, and accessibility. We later discuss 15 cases in this section.

As inputs, the HOMER model requires factors, including the data of all renewables, the load profile, the cost of the energy sources, dispatch techniques, and economic limitations.

Figure 8 shows the net present cost (NPC), wherein the present value is equal to the difference between the present value of the component’s expected revenues and the present value of all expenses associated with installing and running the component during the duration of the project. The result shows that the PV on-grid system with a capacity of 850 MW has the lowest value and the WT on-grid system with a capacity of 850 MW has the highest value.

Figure 9 shows the cost of energy (COE) calculated by dividing the yearly cost of energy production by the total load served. The results show that the WT with an ESS off-grid system with the capacity of 500 MW, the WT with the capacity of 375 MW, and the PV with an ESS off-grid system with the capacity of 125 MW have the lowest value, and the PV on-grid system with the capacity of 850 MW has the highest value.

The operating cost shown in Figure 10 is the yearly value of everything apart from capital cost and includes the salvage value, which is a component’s worth at the project’s conclusion. The results show that the PV 850-MW on-grid system had the lowest value and the WT with an ESS off-grid system with the capacity of 500 MW has the highest value.

The initial capital shown in Figure 11 is the entire cost of installing the components at the start of the project. The PV with an ESS off-grid system with the capacity of 500 MW and the PV on-grid system with the capacity of 850 MW have the lowest values of $401 million and $404 million, respectively. The WT on-grid system with the capacity of 850 MW has the highest value of $2,580 million.

The O&M shown in Figure 12 is the total cost of operating and maintaining all components, while the grid O&M cost is the yearly cost of purchasing and selling electricity from the grid. High values are obtained for the off-grid systems since there are no revenues from the grid, especially for the WT with an ESS with the capacity of 500 MW having the highest value and the WT with a capacity of 212.5 MW and the PV with a capacity of 637.5 MW on-grid systems having the lowest value.

According to the economic criteria shown in Figures 8–12, the best option considering NPC, COE, and operating cost is a PV grid-connected system without an ESS with a capacity of 850 MW having the least value. The optimal system considering initial capital is a PV grid-connected system with an ESS with a capacity of 600 MW having a value close to the previous system. Considering O&M, a hybrid system with a wind capacity of 212.5 MW and PV of 637.5 MW without an ESS is the best option.

According to the technical criteria shown in Figures 13–16, renewable fraction is the percentage of load energy from renewable sources. The off-grid systems have the maximum renewable energy fraction and close to them is a hybrid microgrid system consisting of a wind turbine with a capacity of 637.5 MW and a PV without an ESS with a capacity of 212.5 MW. The PV without an ESS with the capacity of 850 MW on the grid-connected system produces maximum electricity and excess energy.

Figure 13 shows the renewable fraction of all systems calculated as the amount of the load’s energy consumption met by renewable sources. The off-grid systems have 100% use of renewable sources, and the least percentage of 91.8% is achieved by the PV with an ESS on-grid system with the capacity of 600 MW.

The total electricity production of all systems is shown in Figure 14. It is observed that the off-grid systems show the highest production of electricity, and the on-grid systems without batteries show the least electricity production.

Figure 15 shows the excess electricity produced by all systems that cannot be used to power a load or charge batteries and has to be discarded when there is more power than the batteries can hold. The PV on-grid system with the capacity of 850 MW produces the highest excess electricity, and the WT with the capacity of 450 MW and the PV with the capacity of 150 MW with an ESS on-grid system produces the lowest excess electricity.

Figure 16 shows the amount of electricity bought and sold from the grid as a whole. The WT with the capacity of 637.5 MW and the PV with the capacity of 212.5 MW on-grid system have the highest sales and lowest purchase of electricity from the grid. The PV with the capacity of 600 MW with an ESS on-grid system has the lowest sales and highest purchase of electricity from the grid.

There are advantages and disadvantages in selecting the optimal option for the grid. From economic and technical perspectives, the PV850/on-grid without an ESS is the best option but has high grid purchases and low sales. The system that has the lowest grid purchase and highest sales is a hybrid microgrid with a WT of 637.5 MW and PV of 212.5 MW without an ESS.

Lastly, we let HOMER search for the optimal system and size according to the Yanbu load profile shown in Figure 2, and the results show that the PV on-grid system has the best component combination and PV capacity of 179.168 MW. Table 2 shows all previous results of both economic and technical criteria for the optimal system.

The purpose of this research was to determine the best possible layout from among 15 systems for Yanbu city that will allow for a steady supply of renewable energy to be provided at the lowest possible cost. The simulated results of different combinations of grid-connected units are derived using HOMER. Solar energy is the primary power source at this grid-connected site, and when solar energy is unavailable, the electric grid and battery bank will deliver power to the load. As a result, the grid-connected PV panel is the most cost-effective and efficient alternative. The HOMER tool will simulate hundreds of results in total. According to the optimization results, the PV on-grid system without an ESS and with a capacity of 850 MW is the optimal solution from an economic and technical perspective. In addition, the hybrid microgrid with 637.5 MW WT and 212.5 MW PV without an ESS is the best choice considering the grid sales and purchase. The number of choices depends on the selection criteria.