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AN experimental 200 kW grid-connected solar thermal electric power plant, constructed in 1979 on a farm near Coolidge, AZ, was operated for three years to characterize energy performance, determine equipment shortcomings and quantify operating and maintenance requirements. The applicability of such an on-farm solar plant to providing irrigation pumping power was found to depend primarily on operating and maintenance requirements, energy management issues and capital costs. It is concluded that specialized operating and maintenance requirements and high capital costs make on-farm siting of solar power plants unattractive in the United States at present.