OREANDA-NEWS. January 16, 2013. Saudi Aramco President and CEO Khalid A. Al-Falih inaugurated the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center’s (KAPSARC) 3.5 megawatt solar energy field in Riyadh, reported the press-centre of Saudi Aramco.

The solar energy field was built over an area of 55,000 square meters and is currently recognized as the biggest ground-mounted solar installation connected to the electricity grid in the Kingdom.
The solar energy field will feed-in the center loads and electricity grid by about 5,800 megawatt hours of electrical energy annually. The field uses 12,684 fixed-angle Polycrystalline PV panels provided by Suntech with 14.4 percent efficiency and maximum power of 280 watts at standard test conditions. The DC power generated by the panels is collected and inverted to AC power through four inverters.

The 5,800 MWH amount of renewable energy will enable the KAPSARC facility to achieve the platinum LEED certificate. The field will offset carbon (CO2) emissions by about 4,900 tons every year.

The whole process of generating the solar energy field and connecting it to the grid is continuously monitored to analyze the data and measure the production efficiency.

The inauguration was attended by Fahad E. Al-Helal, Saudi Aramco Project Management executive director; Dr. Mohammed Al-Saggaf, president of KAPSARC; Moatz Al-Mashouk, Saudi Aramco Public Service Project general manager; and delegates from Saudi Aramco Power Systems in addition to the project team.