Photovoltaic powered villages in Saudi Arabia

Under the auspices of a joint commission on economic cooperation, Saudi Arabia and the United States signed a $100 million agreement in late 1977 for five years, known as SOLERAS (Solar Research American and Saudi). One of the major objectives of this cooperation was to improve the quality of rural life in Saudi Arabia by using solar systems for isolated communities, in agriculture and in local industries. The photovoltaic solar village of 350 kW was a project sponsored by the Saudi Arabia National Center for Science and Technology (SANCST) and the US Department of Energy, the Midwest Research Institute. The author discusses the location of the project and the photovoltaic power system installed. The problems encountered and the failure of components are also discussed