Solar technology manufacturer SunEdison, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Investment Company (SAI) have signed an agreement to jointly undertake a feasibility study for building a vertically integrated solar PV manufacturing complex at Wa’ad Al Shammal in Saudi Arabia.
The complex will house a plant that will manufacture polysilicon solar modules, solar wafers and solar cells using SunEdison’s proprietary high pressure silane fluidized bed reactor polysilicon, and continuous Czochralski crystal ingot technology and equipment.
According to the company, the solar PV manufacturing complex worth approximately $6.4bn would begin production in 2017, with 3GW module output annually.
For the project, the Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals will provide the required quantities of natural gas while the Saudi Electrical Company (SEC) will supply the required power.
In 2013, the company had successfully completed the preliminary study for the proposed project with the National Industrial Clusters Development Program (NICDP).
SunEdison CEO Ahmad Chatila said the project would support the growth of solar PV within Saudi Arabia.
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By GlobalData"The combination of SunEdison technology, and the Kingdom’s world-class manufacturing and energy sector expertise will enable us to capitalize on substantial growth in the Kingdom and the region, and maximize the value of solar PV projects supported by this venture," Chatila added.
NICDP president Azzam Shalabi said, "This project will be capable of building a complete industrial eco-system that is sustainable and able to compete on a global level by utilizing pioneering technology developed by SunEdison to produce high purity polysilicon, and high-efficiency, low-cost mono-crystalline ingots, in addition to benefiting from economies of scale given the size and vertically integrated nature of the complex."