# A Review on Solar Energy Utilization and Projects: Development in and around the UAE
## 8 Limitations and Strategy in the Development of Solar Energy: UAE  
By receiving solar radiation in the open atmosphere, PV cells and CSP technologies are both essentially current sources. However, achieving the lowest-cost energy mix with inexpensive PV requires flexible generation assets or low-cost storage to supply electricity demand 24 h a day. Combining CSP with thermal energy storage and/or hydropower, depending on availability, is one way to accomplish this flexibility via renewables. There are many ways to affect the performance of PV and CSP technologies in the development of solar energy in the UAE. First, one of the major disadvantages is that their working temperature increases linearly with irradiation in the desert region. It is a generally known fact that solar cell temperature is directly reliant on the electrical conversion efficiency of a PV module. The excess heat generated by a PV module due to the absorption of incoming solar irradiation is considered an electrical loss towards the overall output of the system and also leads to thermal strains being generated. To address the issue of PV systems overheating, researchers have used active and passive cooling techniques, such as a hybrid solar PV/T system, phase transition materials, enhanced heat exchanger channel design, heat sinks, jet impingement cooling, thermoelectric cooling, and other technologies [99]. CSP technology challenges require land resources and are expensive for installation.  
Secondly, shadows from atmospheric dust and particulates from industrial sources can never be avoided in the UAE region. Upon deposition and accumulation onto the surfaces of solar cells, they lead to the formation of darker cells and batteries discharging through the solar panel [100]. The dust is mainly made up of silicon dioxide (SiO\({}_{2}\)) followed by calcium oxide (CaO) and other oxides/elements, such as SrO, K\({}_{2}\)O, MnO\({}_{2}\), NiO, SiO\({}_{3}\), Cr\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\), Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\), Fe\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\), TiO\({}_{2}\), P\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\), MgO, and Cl [101; 102; 103]. Gyngueso soils, i.e., those that contain gypsum (CaSO\({}_{4}\).2H\({}_{2}\)O), are the most common mineral found in the desert environment of the Abu Dhabi emirate [104]. More recently conducting polymers, such as polystyrene, poly dimethyl siloxane-siloxane, polymethyl hydroxy siloxane, polyurethane acrylic colloidal suspension, fluorinated polymers, silane-based polymers, and PANI (Figure 20) are also used to enhance the efficiency of solar cells [105; 106]. In addition to dust accumulation, i.e., soiling by cementation, capillary aging, or caking/dust herding, two other crucial characteristics, namely, reflectivity and coating durability, play a significant role in lowering solar energy conversion efficiency in the UAE's desert region. As a result, self-cleaning solar cell panels are just as important as capturing solar energy for optimal use. The outcomes of this study can help researchers, designers, and engineers to analyze and come up with a practical solution for the development of PV and CSP systems.  
Figure 20: **(a)** Schematic illustration of the preparation of photothermal materials PANI on a porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane. The SEM images of **(b)** AAO and **(c)** PANI-AAO. Reprinted with permission from Ref. [107].