The country’s biggest solar farm in operation covers a parking lot of the national oil company, Saudi Aramco, here in Dhahran. Still, the experiment with solar power has been an important catalyst, and the company built a team of experts in renewable power. The experience helped Saudi Arabia focus on conventional solar panels over another system, known as concentrated solar, in which mirrors focus sunlight to create heat. That would allow Saudi Arabia to continue focusing on producing and exporting oil while it makes the shift to cleaner power. Many companies may find it difficult to justify building factories in Saudi Arabia just to construct one power plant.

Source: New York Times February 05, 2018 22:22 UTC