There are several prerequisites for a successful energy technology in Saudi Arabia which need to be met by all technologies, for imported as indigenous technologies. These change during the process of market introduction to long-term operation. However, early developments often set the directions for future success. This contribution considers required certification and verification tests for successful technologies as well as research requirements to ensure this transition. A key issue is that the industry is currently expecting all operating environments to be identical, with a risk of unwanted surprises for countries like Saudi Arabia, with much harsher operating environments. 

The presentation is firstly discussing the goals for the technology development, i.e. ensuring that the novel technology is ‘good enough for the purpose’ in terms of performance, design and reliability. These is being dealt within the industry by international certifications. The contribution summarises some of the shortcomings of today’s approach with the view of minimizing the risk of bringing novel technologies entering the market. This will be illustrated by some examples of problematic market introductions which all showed systematic failure patterns in the field. The causes are identified, and research required to avoid similar issues in the future, specifically for harsh environments such as Saudi Arabia. 

Having ensured that the technology is good enough for a given market, production quality is critical to ensure that the technology’s potential is actually fulfilled. There are currently reports out there that up to 30% of all PV systems show idiosyncrasies. This is largely due to manufacturing but also to some avoidable issues when causing major issues for the technology as a whole, as these tarnish the reputation of a technology and thus limit market success. 

The presentation will make concrete suggestions of research and development in failure analysis, modelling as well as failure analysis.