LG's solar power technologies and innovations set shape to
the cities of the future

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, like many other countries, relies on traditional sources of energy, mainly petroleum. But the fact is that Saudi Arabia's domestic energy consumption is expected to triple by 2030, which requires meeting high energy demand and seeking alternative sources of energy such as renewable energy and develop more energy efficient solutions.

This has led the Kingdom to look into investing in an abundant source of renewable energy: solar power, leveraging the advantage of its geographical location, as the Kingdom owns vast areas of land that are exposed to sunshine throughout the year. The Kingdom has signed an agreement to produce 200 Gigawatts of energy in Saudi Arabia for a total value of US $ 200 billion, making it one of the largest producers of photovoltaic power, thus entering a new era of moving from revenue basedeconomy to sustainable economy whichis inexhaustible and is not affected by fluctuations in international markets prices. This shift represents one of the most significant stages of change, especially in the Kingdom’s utilization of natural resources.

The Kingdom also hopes that its renewable energy will make up to 10% of the total energy production by 2030. A great example of these progressive steps taken towards energy efficiency is NEOM, a planned future smart city west of Tabuk, which is preparing to embrace large fields of solar panels, integrated with IoT that will largely benefit from the energy efficiency.

Saudi Arabia has started investing in solar power, trying to make the most of its unique location. Direct sunlight is more than 2000 kWh /m2/ year. Access to solar energy requires the provision of solar panels.

Many companies and economic sectors have started making their way into this promising market, including LG Electronics, which continuously strives to meet the growing needs of consumers in the market for solar panels; thanks to its energy efficient technology supported by IoT technologies. The LG Neon ™ has won numerous accolades as a reliable, adaptable and durable panel that can be installed in different locations.

Neon ™ is the second generation of the latest LG technology based on the new Cello technology, which delivers better performance, higher reliability and greater improvements than the first version of the system. The Neon ™ system is highly efficient when it comes to delivering better performance with less effort, making LG the largest contributor to raising industry-standards in solar panels production.

Subsequent developments in solar panel technologies characterize the future, and may include various applications of solar panels such as solar buildings. Today, humans have surpassed solar panels to build a solar road, as in the case of France, which built a 2800 square meter solar panel covered with silicon silks to give it the ability to withstand weights. This only proves that the door to innovation remains open to futuristic cities.