Since 1977, KACST –SANCST then- have been researching and developing renewable energy technologies, as well as, supporting and enabling renewable energy industries within the Kingdom. In this talk, we will present several efforts undertaken in the field in the past years with corresponding success stories. As one of the early R&D organizations that ventured into 3G and 4G photovoltaics technologies, KACST have been experimenting with Perovskites and OPVs since 2009. We will present our easy and efficient method to synthesize high quality lithium-based up-conversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), which combine two promising materials (UCNPs and lithium ions). These particles are known to enhance the photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) through utilizing near infrared (NIR) light of the solar light spectrum. The doped cell demonstrate a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19%, denser photocurrent, and better fill factor (FF) of 82 % in comparison to un-doped PSCs (PCE = ~16.5%; FF = 71%). Another effort is to integrate renewable energy systems with high-energy-consumption utility applications such as cooling or desalination plants, a success story that emerged from this effort is the construction of the world largest desalination plant operated by renewable energy at Alkhafji province, with a full fresh-water production capacity of 60k m^3. Up to this point, Alkhafji project has omitted 16k oil barrels which otherwise have been consumed locally, and avoided 20k tons of CO2 emissions. The third effort presented is developing resilient renewable technologies for arid and dry climates. A success story emerged from the is the development of anti-soiling (dust repellant) coating, where panel soiling losses were reduced by 30%, encapsulants life time were extended by 15%, and O&M (cleaning) costs were slashed by 30% for the first 5 years of application (estimate).