The world's largest solar power plant, designed and manufactured by Austrian companies, began operation in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh recently after six months of trial operation, Austrian Press Agency (APA) reported on Tuesday.

The solar power generator in Riyadh was designed and built by the research institute AEE INTEC and manufacturing company GREENoneTEC, which was sold to Saudi Arabia at a price of 3.6 million euros (about 4.72 million U.S. dollars).

Special solar glass and a better mounting system were designed to protect the equipment from sandstorms in Riyadh, said chief of GREENoneTEC Robert Kanduth in a press conference in Vienna.

The solar power plant, which is equipped with 36,000 square meters solar panels, is able to provide hot water for up to 40,000 students and professors of Princess Noura Bint Abdulraman University.

Austrian Minister of Transport, Innovation and Technology Doris Bures said the case was an evidence of the government's successful promotion of domestic innovation company.

She noted that one third of solar panels used within the European Union (EU) come from Austria, which contribute to a sale of 420 million euros (550.2 million dollars) and 4,700 full-time jobs, adding that about 80 percent of Austrian-made solar panels were exported and the volume has quadrupled over the last five years.

Encouraged by the promising data, she said that the country aimed to cover its entire domestic hot water demand by solar energy by