The key challenges are the high upfront cost, particularly in the case of thermal storage systems and dry clean technology, the lack of national expertise (know-how is limited to a certain number of companies in Europe and the United States), the need to develop Solar Atlas, and a monopoly in manufacturing some ofthe main components of the solar field. Given these challenges, photovoltaic technology could be an attractive option to CSP technologies. The mean annual global solar radiation for Al Khor was 1,858 KWh/m2yr in 1987. Because of possible fluctuations in solar irradiance, a backup solution exists for electric generation, using molten salt storage units to store heat for later use.