The world’s largest solar thermal power plant went online Monday 18/03/2013—in Abu Dhabi.The Middle Eastern petro-states are the new solar-energy hot-spots. (An excerpt from an article in Quatz, by Todd Woody and from Power Engineering).

The inauguration of the 100-megawatt Shams 1 power station by Abu Dhabi renewable energy company Masdar underscores the emergence of Middle East petro-kingdoms as the new hot market for solar energy as European markets constrict and developers in the US face hurdles to building massive projects in fragile desert environments.

Masdar chief executive Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber called Shams 1 “a major breakthrough for renewable energy in the Middle East,” noting that the company now generates nearly 10% of the world’s solar thermal electricity. Shams 1 will power about 20,000 homes in the emirate.

“The Middle East holds nearly half of the world’s renewable energy potential,” said Santiago Seage, CEO of…