In this paper, economic feasibility of installing small-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) system is studied at the residential and commercial buildings from an end-user perspective. Based on given scenarios, the best sizing methodology of solar PV system installation has been proposed focusing primarily on the minimum payback period under given (rooftop) area for solar PV installation by the customer. The strategy is demonstrated with the help of a case study using real-time monthly load profile data of residential as well as commercial load/customers and current market price for solar PVs and inverters. In addition, sensitivity analysis has also been carried out to examine the effectiveness of net metering scheme for fairly high participation from end users. Since Saudi Arabia’s Electricity and Co-generation Regulatory Authority (ECRA) has recently approved and published the net metering scheme for small-scale solar PV systems allowing end users to generate and export energy surplus to the utility grid, the proposed scheme has become vital and its practical significance is justified with figures and graphs obtained through computer simulations.

A large-scale renewable-based sustainable power system requires multifaced techno-economic optimization and energy penetration. Due to the volatile and non-periodic nature of renewable energy, the uncertainty of renewables combined with load uncertainties significantly impacts the operational efficiency of renewable integration. The complexities in balancing demand, generation, and maintaining system reliability have introduced new challenges in the current distribution system. Most of the associated challenges can be effectively reduced by using a battery energy storage system (BESS) and the right techniques for handling uncertainties. In this paper, a distributionally robust optimization (DRO) technique with a linear decision rule is formulated for the unit commitment (UC) framework for optimal scheduling of a distribution network that consists of a wind farm, solar PV, a distributed generator (DG), and BESS. To cut the energy cost per unit, BESS plays an important role by storing energy at an off-peak time for on-peak-time use with relatively lower prices. For the all-time minimum overall systems cost, the distribution system requires an optimal size of the BESS to be connected to provide optimal scheduling of DGs. Three case studies are formulated using an IEEE 14 bus system (converted from MW to kW to match the BESS size available in the market) and solved with the proposed distributionally robust optimization technique to achieve the maximum operating point with an optimal capacity of BESS, i.e., wind, solar and hybrid. Each case study has its own optimal 30-min interval schedule for DGs along with the optimal capacity of BESS. The cost comparison with and without BESS and its impact on the start-up and shut down of DGs is reported with all the dynamic economic dispatch results, including the battery’s state-of-charge profile. The proposed technique can handle the uncertainties in renewables and allows economical energy dispatch and optimal BESS sizing with comparatively lower computational processing and complexities.