Renewable energy is accepted as a key source for the future, not only for Saudi Arabia, but also

for the world. Saudi Arabia has abundant potential for exploiting solar energy, which is
renewable, clean, and freely available. The average annual solar radiation falling on the Arabian
Peninsula is about 2200 kWh/m2. Saudi Arabia can be a leading producer and exporter of solar
energy in the form of electricity. The geographical location of the country, its widespread unused
desert land, and year-round clear skies, all make it an excellent candidate for this.

Brief historical development of solar energy

Saudi Arabia was the first country in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as well as
in the entire Middle East to research how to make villages independent from the central system
of power production(Dargin J. Saudi Arabia, UAE promote energy from sun and wind. Oil &
Gas Journal 2009;107(12):18–22.)( Reiche D. Energy policies of Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) countriespossibilities and limitations of ecological modernization in rentier states. Energy
Policy 2010;38(5):2395–403.). The Saudi Atlas Project was initiated in 1994, as a joint R&D
project between the ERI and the National Research Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the U.S.
Twelve locations in the following cities throughout the country were carefully selected: Riyadh,
Gassim, Al-Ahsa, Al-Jouf, Tabuk, Madinah, Jeddah, Qaisumah, Wadi Al Dawasir, Sharurah,
Abha, and Gizan. All of these stations are connected to a central unit for data collection and all
the instruments are calibrated on a regular basis (at 6-month periods) in order to derive reliable
and accurate data. Alawaji SH. Evaluation of solar energy research and its applications in Saudi
Arabia—20 years of experience. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2001;5:59–77

PV history:

Recognizing sun as the main natural source of energy, with which Saudi Arabia is blessed in
abundant measure, it is believed that solar energy is a valuable renewable source of energy,
which should be fully utilized for the benefit of the country. Pointed out that Saudi Arabia
observes the longest sunshine hours and highest solar radiation intensity in the world and needs
to be tapped for small and big applications. According to BP Solar Company in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, the total PV installed capacity reached 3895 kW by the end of year 2008. Of the record,
in Saudi Arabia, PV panels have been utilized for various applications since 1981. Some of these
applications included a 350 kW installed capacity electricity generation plant for a remote village
in Riyadh (Solar Village).
PV potential in the world

Photovoltaic (PV) electric power generation is a promising technology for generating renewable
energy from solar irradiation. However, the output of PV is sensitive to its operating conditions,
so estimating PV potential accurately is a complex problem. Furthermore, given the limited
availability of data for the entire world, a method that achieves accurate estimates with available
data is necessary. Most estimates of PV potential use either the power rating method or the
energy rating method. The main problem of the method is its complexity and data requirements.
Complete instantaneous weather data is not available globally, so no work has estimated the
global PV potential by the power rating method. The global distribution of annual total
irradiation (Hy) on equator-pointed tilted surfaces obtained by summing the monthly total solar
irradiation values in the NASA database, which are averages of 22 years of data from 1983 to
2005, is shown in Fig. 2(Kawajiri K, Oozeki T, Genchi, Y. Effect of Temperature on PV
Potential in the World. Environmental Science and Technology 2011;45:9030-5.)