American Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems

2021; 10(1): 1-5

http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/epes
doi: 10.11648/j.epes.20211001.11
ISSN: 2326-912X (Print); ISSN: 2326-9200 (Online)

Solar Photovoltaic Systems on Public Schools Buildings:

A Case Study in Palestine
Husain Alsamamra1, *, Jawad Shoqeir2, *
1
Department of Physics, Al-Quds University, Jerusalem, Abu-Dies, Palestine
2
Department of Earth and Environmental sciences, Al-Quds University, Jerusalem, Abu-Dies, Palestine

Email address:
*
Corresponding author

To cite this article:

Husain Alsamamra, Jawad Shoqeir. Solar Photovoltaic Systems on Public Schools Buildings: A Case Study in Palestine. American Journal
of Electrical Power and Energy Systems. Vol. 10, No. 1, 2021, pp. 1-5. doi: 10.11648/j.epes.20211001.11

Received: January 22, 2021; Accepted: January 30, 2021; Published: February 9, 2021

Abstract: Renewable energy exploitation has proved its promising characteristics in sustainably securing energy needs. This
work is a comprehensive assessment of the potential of renewable penetration in securing electricity needs in Palestine.
Methods of assessment have been determined based on solar potential. Al-Dahriya secondary school in the south Hebron
directorate of education was used as a case study, where these building have low working hours all over the year, which will
increase the total income of the annual solar energy. AutoCad software simulation program was used to draw the rooftop of the
school. The powerful HOMER ProR software was used for the simulation processes of the PV system and its requirements.
Results showed that, the rooftop could accommodate 144 panels, with 57.16 KW. This system will produce 92,866 KWh every
year, which could be an input of 5.12% of the total annual power consumption in Palestine if this system installed on every
school in Palestine, which are in total 3074 schools. Due to the number of working hours and low energy consumption in
schools, the payback period of the project will be 4.38 years. The income of the surplus when installing such project on all
schools in Palestine will be around 43 million USD to the Palestinian Treasury every year after the payback period.
Keywords: Solar Energy, PV Panels, Power Consumption, Energy Security, Palestine

the West Bank are separated from each other. Gaza Strip is
1. Introduction under siege since 2007, Israel applies strict bars on energy
The world is moving in fast steps toward more exploitation supplies to Gaza Strip. West Bank is divided into three
for renewable resources in all aspects of life [1, 2]. Fossil administrative regions A, B & C. However, Palestine is
fuels are becoming scarcer and the emissions of burning distinguished by promising capabilities of solar, wind and
fossil fuels have been proved to be harmful to human health biomass resources, most of Palestine receives solar radiation
and the stability of the environment [3, 4]. Also, fossil fuel about 3000 hours annually, and the average solar radiation
supplies to the energy market became intermittent due to values range from 5.4 kWh/m2.day to 6.0 kWh/m2.day [9].
political confrontations and considerations [5]. As a result, These values show a reasonable potential for exploitation
the employment of authentic resources of energy from nature feasibility compared to other places worldwide such as
to secure energy demand became a strong trend in the energy Madrid-Spain 4.88 kWh/m2.day, Sydney-Australia 4.64
sector [6, 7]. Today the world tends to use renewable and kWh/m2.day [10].
green energy sources in order to generate energy to preserve In Palestine, energy prices are considered the highest in the
the environment. region [11]. Since the industry relies on electricity for
Palestine is a developing occupied country which has a running different production lines, the volatility of energy
complicated energy sector, different from other countries in prices is a major factor affecting this sector. Since Palestine is
the Middle East. The energy sector is Palestine suffers from an occupied country, there is no possible free electricity
the implications of the Israeli occupation [8]. Gaza Strip and trading with neighboring countries [12]. Thus, dealing with
the unfair opposed prices of electricity is a daily fact that
2 Husain Alsamamra and Jawad Shoqeir: Solar Photovoltaic Systems on Public Schools Buildings:
A Case Study in Palestine

hinders the prosperity and growth of this sector, and many high potential in Palestine, in order to help reducing the
other sectors [13]. burden of school electricity bills. In this paper, Al-Dahriya
Hence, renewable energy sources such as solar energy, secondary school from south Hebron directorate of education
wind energy and others need large areas to become effective, was considered as a case study. To assess the potential
hence the idea of this work by exploiting unused and wasted penetration of solar energy in securing the electricity needs
spaces to become a place for energy generation. Here in based on the school criteria such as the site, available spaces,
Palestine, the trend to renewable energy sources started about energy consumption profile and its surplus to the grid. Assess
15 years ago [14], but they are still weak due to the the techno-economic performance for proposed solar
occupation policies that prevent the residents of Palestine systems. The simulation software that is used to run the real-
from exploiting the resources as required [15]. According to time simulation is HOMER ProR (Hybrid Optimization
the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in 2018, Palestine Model for Multiple Energy Resources), this software will be
consumed about 5,576 Giga watt hour of electricity, and used for different types of analysis in this work. It’s worthy
about 931 tons of oil equivalent of Oil derivatives and 169 to mention, that the feasible forms of electricity producing
tons of oil equivalent of energy from renewable energy [16]. renewable energy systems, in this case, are only solar energy,
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics other sources will not be considered in this study due to
(PCBS) in 2020, there are 3,074 schools in the West-bank infeasibility.
and Gaza strip [17], these schools are closed more than 180 The following sections of this paper are structured as
days in summer vacation, moreover, the schools work 7 follows: Methodology, results and discussion, and
hours maximum every day. The roof top of the schools are conclusion.
almost empty, so it is important to use that space over the
roof to generate electricity, were the energy produced by the 2. Methodology
solar panels could be more than the energy consumed by the
school all over the year. To conduct the study, the work were divided into 3 phases.
The rooftop solar PV systems for schools will provide First, gathering the site information, history of electricity
several benefits for Palestinian economy, contribute to and consumption and solar data. Second, the AutoCad was used
enhance the authority’s plans and strategies to reduce to draw the Pv panels on the rooftop of the school, and then
dependence on other countries. Such projects will create applying the data of the school to HOMER ProR software
significant savings in the cost of electricity bills for schools, [19] to calculate the amount of the PV system needed and
it will cover part of the schools’ expenses, also will creating then calculate the power output, this software is generally
awareness of green power in public schools and weaving considered to be a powerful and comprehensive program and
sustainable energy practices into Palestine’s teaching commonly used for design and simulation of solar power
environment, also such projects will generate benefits for plants, including grid-connected systems. In addition, this
Palestinian electricity distribution companies and simulation tool can prove useful to calculate economic and
municipalities by making electricity available at lower costs environmental indicators. Finally, the total cost of
than what is currently available from occupation authorities, implementing the project on the study site will be calculated,
in addition to reducing technical losses and at the national the surplus, the expected period to recover the cost of the
level, such systems will brings Palestine closer to energy project from surplus investment with the national electricity
independence and strengthens the country’s commitment to distribution company in Palestine.
renewable energy. The available solar modules in the market today is
The Palestinian Ministry of Education developed a Canadian Solar and was classified as one of the top preferred
national program to deploy solar PV systems on the rooftops module brands as of 2019 as mentioned in OhmHome
of public schools in Palestine. Directorate of education of summary recommendation of solar modules[20]. The CS1U-
south Hebron schools were divided into three classes 415 Wp solar module was distinguished to have a substantial
according to the size of the school depending on the number efficiency in CS1U Series with 20.13% efficiency per cell
of students and the size of the building, small, medium and area. The modules have to be oriented in landscape
large schools. Were the small schools have a roof space of configuration to avoid the effect of parallel shading on the
400 square meters, medium of 600 square meters and large module cells. This system will produce 57.16 KW. The solar
schools have a roof space of 750 square meters. These panels were installed with column space of 5 cm and row
schools consume electricity in summer months greater than space of 1.16 meters to reduce the shadows, on tilt angle of
in the winter period, as the average monthly consumption in 23 degree to the south which is the best in Palestine [21].
summer for small schools is 300 KWh, 400 KWh for Al-Dahriya town located in the southern part of the West
medium and 500 KWh for large schools. As for the winter Bank 31°24'35" N: 34°58'24" E, as shown in figure 1, with
consumption rate, it is 350 KWh for small schools, 450 KWh the semi-desert climate make it one of the most suitable
for medium and 550 KWh for large schools [18]. The annual locations for applying solar power systems as a part of
school consumption in Palestine around 16.6 GWh, which is successful solar energy resources. Al-Dahriya secondary
0.3% of the total annul electricity consumption in Palestine. school located in Al-Dahriya town, and administratively
This work aims to enhance the use of solar energy due to its follow to south Hebron directorate of education were chosen
 American Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 2021; 10(1): 1-5 3

to be a case study because it has a medium roof space so it because it is the summer vacation, but the production increasing
will give a good indication to the other school sizes. It has a in these months because they have the longest sunshine duration
rooftop space of 670 square meters and the available area for all over the year as shown in figure 3.
the installation of solar panels is 490 square meters due to
shadows and because of the space left for future movement
for maintenance.

Figure 3. Monthly Ac consumption and production (KWh).

Figure 1. Location of Al-Dahriya Town. From the results shown in figure 3, it was found that the
difference between consumption and production is large and
3. Results and discussion this is due to the absence of energy-consuming electrical
systems in Palestinian schools, such as heating and cooling
The monthly average of solar radiation at the study site systems, since the weather in Palestine in spring, summer and
presented in figure 2, it is follow the normal distribution and autumn seasons does not need cooling systems in schools as
the maximum values of the received solar radiation are in the weather is moderate, except for Jericho city, which is
summer months (June to August) with a maximum value of located In the Jordan Valley, they need cooling systems. In
7.74 KWh/m2/day in July, while the minimum values are in winter season schools need heating systems, but the
winter months (November to January) with a minimum value economic situation in Palestine does not allow the installation
of 3.07 KWh/m2/day in December. of such systems in schools.
Moreover, the HOMER ProR software calculated the solar
radiation, the plane of array irradiance and the DC array
output for the system as shown in table 1.

Table 1. Specifications of the PV system.

Solar Plane of array

Ac output Dc output
Month Radiation irradiance
(KWh) (KWh)
(KWh/m2/day) (w/m2)
January 4911.87 3.15 112.33 5334.12
February 5320.11 4.27 127.16 5742.92
March 7909.92 5.17 173.13 8521.65
April 8564.13 6.28 197.02 8940.42
May 8936.02 6.92 222.3 9320.23
June 9724.89 7.53 236.14 10.255.14
July 10207.1 7.74 241.77 10670.15
August 9913.95 7.33 235.63 10436.78
September 8766.14 6.52 220.45 9633.46
October 8371.77 5.91 204.17 8877.81
Figure 2. Monthly average solar radiation at the study site. November 5417.12 4.56 191.34 5917.28
December 4823.04 3.07 109.72 5240.73
The rooftop school presents no shading and panels can be
The calculations of the surplus by drop the consumed
installed without any limitations. After applying the data on the
value from the produced value provide 88,629 KWh Ac
AutoCad and HOMER ProR software, 144 PV panel could be
surplus value for 12 months, as shown in figure 4. The
installed in the available area, and costs approximately 65,000
annual surplus electricity is equivalent to 14181 USD, which
USD, and produce 92,866 KWh yearly. However, the school
is a good amount that can be obtained from only one school
energy consumed 4,237 KWh in the year 2019, and the
out of 3074 schools in Palestine.
consumption usually decreased in June, July and August
4 Husain Alsamamra and Jawad Shoqeir: Solar Photovoltaic Systems on Public Schools Buildings:
A Case Study in Palestine

energy in schools, in addition to the sustainable energy

practices to Palestine’s teaching environment.
Al-Dahriya secondary has an available area of 490 square
meters for PV panel's installation of its total area 670 square
meters. The calculation shows that its rooftop could handle a
PV system of 57.16 KW, with 144 PV panels. This system
will produce annually 92,866 KWh of solar electricity, were
the total annual consumption of the school is 4,237 KWh.
The annual surplus electricity was found to be 88629 KW,
which means an annual income of 14,181 USD, were the
total cost of the system about 65,000 USD. The calculations
found the payback period to be 4.38 years, the total income
after 20 years which is the life span of the system about
283,620 USD. Moreover, when applying this system on the
3,074 schools in Palestine, the system will produce 5.12% of
Figure 4. Monthly Ac surplus (KWh). the Palestinian annual consumption in addition to the 0.3%
consumption of schools. Installing such a project on all
The payback period was calculated upon the production of schools means that the Palestinian Treasury will have an
the system and found to be 4.38 years, were the school will annual significant save around 43 million USD after around 5
have a total income about 14181 USD every year after the years payback period. Future studies can be done on the
power consumed, however the tariff of each 1KWh is 0.16 feasibility of using small scale wind turbines.
USD [22], which means that the school will win a total
income about 283620 USD after 20 years which is the life
span of the system as presented in figure 5.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the
publication of this paper.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank south Hebron directorate
of education for their help.

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