Citation: Hussain, H.M.; Rahi, K.; Al Tarawneh, M.; Preece, C. Developing Applicable Scenarios to Install and Utilize Solar Panels in the Houses of Abu Dhabi City. Sustainability 2022, 14, 15361. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/su142215361 Academic Editor: Sergio Nardini Received: 18 October 2022 Accepted: 11 November 2022 Published: 18 November 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article Developing Applicable Scenarios to Install and Utilize Solar Panels in the Houses of Abu Dhabi City Hamed M. Hussain 1, *, Khalil Rahi 1 , Mohammednoor Al Tarawneh 2 and Christopher Preece 1 1 College of Engineering, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 59911, United Arab Emirates 2 Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Al Ain Campus, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates * Correspondence: 1046062@alumni.adu.ac.ae Abstract: This study examines the utilization of solar panels in the houses of Abu Dhabi city. A presentation of applicable solar power scenarios is displayed on a global scale. Furthermore, solar power applications in Abu Dhabi city are briefly demonstrated. In light of the depleting state of oil-backed energy sources, this study further investigates the social acceptance of homeowners in Abu Dhabi to install solar panels in their private houses, and identifies the main reason and the optimal scenario to achieve it. Importantly, this research solidifies the objectives with a related survey that was sent to 216 interested individuals residing locally in Abu Dhabi city, over a time period of 2 months. The survey, in the main, presents four scenarios that could stimulate interested individuals to change to the use of independent solar power systems in their houses. The results are displayed in detail to show the different opinions of homeowners in the city of Abu Dhabi, and an in-depth discussion follows afterwards, proving a high interest in solar power. The results of the survey emphasize that the most preferred scenario is to have authoritative financial support in the process of solar panel implantation. The conclusion confirms that the rising social acceptance status along with the elected scenario could stimulate the possession and utilization of solar panels in private villas and houses in Abu Dhabi city. Keywords: solar energy; green energy; sustainability; social acceptance; UAE; Abu Dhabi Distribution Company 1. Introduction Abu Dhabi is well known for its scorching sun and hot climate, which is naturally rich in solar energy, making it an interesting environment for green energy if all suitable conditions are available. The same applies to other emirates in the UAE. For instance, the city of Dubai generates 44% of its electricity from renewable energy, which is almost half of its consumption, meaning that the gas consumption that used to take place in powering the other 56% of city power has become obsolete, in the hope of saving power and saving the environment [1]. However, the current situation in Abu Dhabi city proves that there is a high dependency on natural gas combustion to generate power, which can reach up to 80% of the power generated in the capital city [1]. Therefore, based on these data, opportunities must be seized for the betterment of the renewable energy field, and, particularly, solar power projects, as they can majorly reduce the consumption of fuel when generating electricity through photovoltaic solar panels. Solar power is one of the most widely used renewable energy resources to generate power in an eco-friendly process. Furthermore, the behavioral nature of local homeowners must be taken into consideration as is analyzed in this research study. Hence, this is analyzed after using various methods to evaluate the development of solar power resources. The main basis for this study is the hypothesis that we can generate electricity through photovoltaic solar panels on private premises. The main assessment is made based on several possible scenarios and formulas to generate Sustainability 2022, 14, 15361. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215361 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability