Abstract

The MENA region receives between 22% and 26% of all solar energy striking the earth. This translates to a potential for solar energy per square kilometer per year equivalent to the energy generated from 1 to 2 million barrels of oil. Despite this, the region continues to deplete limited resources and escalate tensions over competition for the use of these resources. The MENA region only holds 1.8% of the world installed capacity of solar water heaters and 0.68% of the installed PV worldwide capacity. Governments of the Arab world often don’t regard environmental protection and associated methods, renewable energy, as an economically or developmentally important. As a result the effort is often unfocused and driven simply by modest concern for international treaties. This chapter presents some of the challenges facing the implementation of solar powered technologies in the Arab world. These challenges are related to both the technologies themselves and the political and social factors.