The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is the largest country in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region in terms of population, geographic area, economy, and construction and utility infrastructure. The rapid growth of the building sector in general and residential buildings in particular is creating huge energy and environmental challenges for the country. To address these problems and reduce its reliance on an oil-based energy infrastructure, the country aims to install 9.5 GW of renewable

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... y by 2030. Traditionally the emphasis has been on large-scale renewable projects. Globally, the recent success of solar energy has been significantly contributed by the application of photovoltaics (PV) in buildings. This is an area that has been overlooked in KSA. This study investigates the prospects of application of PV in buildings to improve the sustainability standards in the building and energy sectors of the country by considering the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) as a case study. PVsyst and RetScreen software programs have been used to model the application of PV on building rooftops in KFUPM. The study also discusses the concerned policy. It is found that the rooftop application of PV can annually produce 37,746 MWh of electricity, meeting over 16% of the KFUPM's total energy requirements. and countries like Italy, Japan, Spain, UK and USA have also seen their PV market rapidly flourish. Since 2010, UK, for example, has seen its PV capacity grow exponentially due to conducive policies like FIT and renewable obligation certificates (ROC). Statistics reveal that the installed capacity of PV in UK has jumped from less than 50 MW at the start of 2010 to over 10,000 MW by the beginning of 2016 [3] . Over the five-year period between 2010 and 2015, the FIT has supported development of over 3700 MW of renewables of which around 87% has been through solar PV. Over 70% of the PV projects supported under the FIT scheme are small scale (under 10 kW) [4]. FIT is now being practiced in over 50 countries across the world [5] . In developing countries, other types of business models such as micro-credit-based systems have enabled PV to gain significant ground in the national power supply base. Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula in terms of population, geographic outreach and economy. It is also one of the richest countries in the world in terms of oil and gas reserves, leading to an energy-affluent lifestyle. Over the last few decades, in the pursuit of development and modernization, the country has experienced a rapid growth in the building and construction sector [6, 7] . Owing to factors like rising population, modernization and economic development, between 2009 and 2025, the electricity demand in the residential sector is expected to more than double. While around two-third of the population is under the age of 30 years, estimates suggest that in order to meet the needs of the growing population, the country has to build 2.32 million new homes by 2020 [8-10]. Already one of the highest countries in the world in terms of per capita energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, the situation there is going to significantly add to the energy and environmental burdens it faces [6] . For sustainable development, the situation requires a major shift in the energy consumption patterns in the building sector. Besides energy conservation strategies, use of renewable technologies can significantly help improve the energy and environmental footprint of buildings. Traditionally Saudi Arabia has relied on fossil fuels to meet its energy requirements. Despite having taken initiatives more than three decades ago, the country is yet to see renewable energy making any considerable inroads in its energy and building sectors. Key barriers in this respect include huge public subsidies for fossil fuels, government preferences to large scale and centralized projects, investment risks, lack of administrative experience with renewable technologies, and regulatory issues. Saudi Arabia is now keen to diversify its energy base by exploiting its renewable resources. Strong solar radiation levels amounting to an average yearly value of over 2200 kWh/m 2 are one of the key strengths of the country's renewable base [6] . The country has given itself a target of setting up 9.5 GW renewables by 2030, most of which is projected to come from solar energy [11] . The focus of the country thus far has been on large or industrial scale projects overlooking the application of PV in buildings. This is an area that needs attention. Besides developing large scale PV projects, KSA also needs to exploit its small-scale generation potential especially through the building sector. This study aims to examine the prospects of urban scale application of PV systems in the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). Given its large and diverse building infrastructure, population and energy demand, KFUPM is regarded to be a suitable case study area at urban scale level. The whole building infrastructure of the university campus has been examined for utilizable roof top area for PV application. Energy yield from the designed rooftop PV systems has been modeled with the help of PVsyst software. The study also provides emission analysis with the help of RetScreen software besides discussing policy guidelines to promote PV systems in the Saudi building sector.