Excellent question. I believe a lot of work has been done on this idea, the most likely format in a desert area would be greenhouses formed from panels which are partially transparent, capturing the more harmful rays from which we wish to protect plants, and perhaps humans and maybe other animals, inside, whilst allowing still enough to filter through, for the plants to flourish. The solar power collected from this surface area might be used in conjunction with heat pumping mechanisms inside the greenhouse, to maintain a civil temperature.

I believe Saudi Arabia has funded a lot of research in this area, including also water collection capabilities of panels, maybe using some of the principles outlined in the cool article here of Purdue.

Putting all this together with the capabilities of generating hydgrogen as a non-polluting functional alternative to fossil fuels, given also the water filtration / circulation characteristics of hydrogen used as a fuel for transportation, and also that hydrogen even converts to a non plant dependent food (See "Solein"), looks like maybe the ultimate solution to all energy, water, and food supply problems.

Ironically, Saudi seems like the last place on Earth that would choose to put the sun to use, rather than their oil, as long as they can keep using that, regardless of what damage it does elsewehere on Earth.

But hey, always room for surprises I guess.