SAUDIS PIDDLE WITH SOLAR POWER

Saudi Arabia's First Solar Power Plant Comes Online
6 October 2011 (Solar Industry)

"The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has inaugurated its first solar power plant, according to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia…The 500 kW plant, located on Farasan Island, was constructed by the Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) and Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K., a Japanese energy company partly owned by the Saudi Arabian Oil Co."

Many warehouses in China, Europe and the U.S. have arrays many times this size on their roofs. Hopefully the nation best positioned to be the Saudi Arabia of solar energy will get in the game in earnest soon. (click to enlarge)

"This project is intended to be one of the many initiatives led by SEC to introduce clean energy throughout the Kingdom. Saudia Arabia is a prime location to harness solar energy because of its year-round sunshine. The sun in Saudi Arabia emits about 7,000 watts of energy per square meter over an average of 12 hours every day…"