Design and Simulation of a Solar Photovoltaic System for a Sports Stadium

A feasibility analysis is described, via design and simulation, of an increasingly popular use of solar photovoltaics (PV), which is for large, professional sports stadiums. The PV array is proposed to be installed as a parking lot canopy at the King Abdullah Sport City stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to meet electricity needs of 111,000 kWh per day on average. Much of the loads are at night, but battery storage is impractical due to the large load. Thus, the PV electricity generated is proposed to be net-metered by the utility company. First, a preliminary scoping analysis was conducted on a monthly basis using satellite-derived weather data from NASA to prove the concept. Next, a detailed hourly simulation using SAM software was conducted in order to perform 25-year life-cycle cost analyses to determine economic viability and annual cash flows. The simulation results yielded a design of 53,374 modules of 250 W nominal power output (13,344 kW total), covering an area of 87,000 m
²
. Positive cash flow is realized in 16 years after installation.