Contentslistsavailableat ScienceDirect Solar Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solener Selectionofthebestsolarphotovoltaic(PV)forOman Sabah Abdul-Wahab a, ⁎ ,YassineCharabi b ,AbdulMajeedAl-Mahruqi a ,IsraOsman a , SelmaOsman a a Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman b Department of Geography, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman ARTICLEINFO Keywords: HOMER Oman PV Solar energy Pollutants ABSTRACT Fossilfuelcombustionproducesaboutthree-quartersoftheworld’senergysupply.However,burningthesefuels producesaconsiderableamountofpollutants,whicheventuallywillharmtheenvironment.Theobjectiveofthis study is to employ Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) to fnd the best photovoltaic system(PV)forOman’sconditionsandtoanalyzethecostsandtheresultingpollutingemissions,whichmight avoidedbyusingaPVsysteminplaceofnaturalgasanddieselsystems.UsingHOMERwillhelpdeterminethe best locations in Oman to maximize solar energy production. HOMER simulation results showed that the best typeofPVforOmanwasIngeteam1164kVAwithgenericPV.TheuseofaPVsysteminsteadofnaturalgasand diesel systems will avoid the generation of about 9728892.115 and 13148128.5kg/year of pollutants, respec- tively,andwillreducethecostofenergytoUSD$0.085/kWh.Thebestlocationsfoundforusingsolarenergy wereMarmulfollowedbyFahud,SoharandQairoonHairitiduetotheirlowcostsofelectricity(0.0763,0.0855, 0.0862and0.0869USD$/kWh,respectively),highsolarradiationandclearnessindex. 1. Introduction It is predicted that a permanent drop in the rate of oil production willoccurwithin10–20years(Swami, 2012). Fossil fuel combustion (asfromoil,gas,andcoal)producesaboutthree-quartersoftheworld’s energy supply. However, burning these fossil fuels generates green- house gases, which are responsible for climate change (Kweku et al., 2017;UmarandWamuziri,2016).Moreover,fossilfuelcombustionhas harmed the environment and disturbed the world’s natural balance (Bose,2010;Swami,2012).Itisimportantthattheworlddecreasesits dependencyonnon-renewableenergysourcesbyusingrenewableand inexhaustibleenergysourcessuchassolar,wind,andtidalenergy(Asif andMuneer,2007;Kazemetal.,2011). Solarenergyisconsideredthemostsignifcantsourceofrenewable energy (Kabir et al., 2018; Timilsina et al., 2014). The earth receives solar power at a rate of 120 petawatts, meaning that all the energy obtainedfromthesuninasingledaycouldsatisfytheworld’senergy needs for twenty years (Rashad et al., 2015). Solar power generation hasbeenemployedformorethanhalfacentury,mainlyonasmallscale for specifed purposes, like producing electrical energy for remote areas,spacecrafts,andsatellites.The1970sand1980switnessedthe developmentoflarge-scalesolarenergyproduction,andthisenergyis characterized as a clean energy source because it has no emissions (Hamilton, 2011). The energy from the sun can be directly converted intoelectricitybyusingphotovoltaics(PV)orindirectlybyusingcon- centratedsolarpower(CSP)technologywhichchangessolarenergyto heat energy so it can be used in thermal power stations to produce electricalenergy(Rashadetal.,2015). There are several types of solar cells: single crystal silicon cells, polycrystallinePVcells,thin-flmPVandmultijunctionPVcells.Single crystal silicon cells are the most used type of PV. The main dis- advantageofsiliconcells,however,isthecostofthewafers.Theother class of PV, the polycrystalline PV cell, is composed of pure silicon. Because it is not made of a single crystal, however, they have lower efciency than the single crystal cells. Thin-flm PV cells are also formed of silicon, but they are manufactured through advanced tech- niques,whichresultsinlowerconsumptionofsiliconintheprocedure. Thin-flm PV cells are very costly to produce and have a lower con- versionefciency.Finally,themulti-junctionPVcellsconsistoflayers ofsemiconductingmaterialstogeneratemorethanonejunction.These diferent layers can absorb multiple wavelengths, increasing overall efciency(Al-IsmailyandProbert,1998). Eachtypeofsolarcellhasitsownadvantagesanddisadvantagesthe selectionofthesuitablesolarcellisimportanttoensurehighefciency and to save money, after the selection of the suitable solar cell, PV plantscanbeconstructed.Accordingto Rashadetal.(2015),PVplants https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2019.07.018 Received21March2019;Receivedinrevisedform22June2019;Accepted3July2019 ⁎ Correspondingauthorat:P.O.Box33,PC123,Oman. E-mail address: sabah1@squ.edu.om (S. Abdul-Wahab). Solar Energy 188 (2019) 1156–1168 0038-092X/ © 2019 International Solar Energy Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T