This study assesses the economic, social and environmental impacts of renewable and nuclear energy targets for global electricity generation by 2030. It examines different regions, as they might experience different impacts depending on the structures of their economies and their local natural resources, to understand the impact of these targets on their economics and well-being of their people. These regions are: Saudi Arabia, the United States (US), China, India, Europe and Rest of World (ROW). A well-known Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model, the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP), is modified and used to predict global economic shifts that would be triggered by two scenarios. The business as usual (BAU) scenario assumes that the current electricity mix remains unchanged until 2030. The Renewable and Nuclear Energy (RNE) scenario is based on the International Energy Outlook (IEO) 2016 prediction. The analysis shows that the GDP value of all regions, except India, is affected negatively. The study shows a loss of 4.45 million jobs worldwide in the RNE compared to the BAU. Finally, the implementation of planned renewable and nuclear energy slightly benefits the environment but not enough to mitigate rise in global temperature.

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This study quantitatively analyses the impacts that recent unprecedent events have had on the Saudi economy and environment using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model. These events include: the global outbreak of COVID-19 and the associated disruption to the global supply chain, the alarming rate of climate change, and various political conflicts. These events have affected global food and energy prices. The results of this study revealed a decline in Saudi GDP, household income, purchase ability, and welfare. A trade deficit was indicated in the Saudi trade balance because of higher food prices and a reduction in two of the main Saudi exports (oil and petroleum products). A decrease in the output of most Saudi industries was shown, despite the increase in exports for most sectors. This was because of the reduction in Saudi households’ domestic consumption. Regarding the environmental impact, the Input–Output Life Cycle Assessment (IO-LCA) approach was used to estimate the total CO2 emissions of the Saudi economy. In total, approximately 740.6 million metric tons of CO2 emissions were estimated. By using a recently published specific carbon intensity for Saudi oil, total Saudi CO2 emissions were 24.59% less than the non-specific measure.

With the increasing global concerns about greenhouse gas emissions caused by the extensive use of fossil fuels, many countries are investing in the deployment of clean energy sources. The utilization of abundant solar energy is one of the fastest growing deployed renewable sources due its technological maturity and economic competitivity. In addition to report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), many studies have suggested that the maturity of solar energy systems will continue to develop, which will increase their economic viability. The focus of analysis in this paper is countries with hot desert climates since they are the best candidates for solar energy systems. The capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh is used as the case study due to the country’s ambitious goals in this field. The main purpose of this study is to comprehensively analyze the stochastic behavior and probabilistic distribution of solar irradiance in order to accurately estimate the expected power output of solar systems. A solar Photovoltaic (PV) module is used for the analysis due to its practicality and widespread use in utility-scale projects. In addition to the use of a break-even analysis to estimate the economic viability of solar PV systems in hot desert climates, this paper estimates the indifference point at which the economic feasibility of solar PV systems is justified, compared with the fossil-based systems. The numerical results show that the break-even point of installing one KW generation capacity of a solar PV system is estimated to pay off after producing 16,827 KWh, compared to 15,422 KWh for the case of fossil-based systems. However, the increased cost of initial investment in solar PV systems deployment starts to be economically justified after producing 41,437 KWh.