Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has signed two solar PV manufacturing agreements with Chinese manufacturers JinkoSolar and TCL Zhonghuan Renewable Energy.
Both agreements, made through joint ventures (JV), will bring 30GW of solar PV manufacturing, from ingots to modules, to Saudi Arabia. The agreements have been made by the Renewable Energy Localization Company (RELC), a fully-owned PIF company, along with the participation of Saudi renewables investor Vision Industries (VI) and the Chinese manufacturers.
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One of the two solar manufacturing agreements was signed with Lumetech, a subsidiary of Chinese solar manufacturer TCL Zhonghuan Renewable Energy. This deal would bring domestic manufacturing of ingots and wafers with an annual nameplate capacity of 20GW.
The facility will be built and financed through a JV between Lumetech, RELC and Vision Industries. Lumetech and RELC will hold 40% equity and VI the remaining 20%.
On the other hand, the agreement signed with JinkoSolar aims to bring 10GW of annual nameplate capacity of n-type solar cells and modules of domestic PV manufacturing capacity to Saudi Arabia. Although the agreement did not specify the technology used, JinkoSolar primarily makes tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) products. The Chinese manufacturer aims to phase out its production capacity of p-type and reach 90% of the total capacity produced from n-type by the end of the year.
Similar to the Lumetech agreement, JinkoSolar and RELC will hold 40% equity, and VI will hold the remaining 20%.
A timeline and location for the construction of both manufacturing plants have not been disclosed so far. However, JinkoSolar said the schedule for development and construction will be “subject to market conditions”.
Yazeed Al-Humied, deputy governor and head of MENA Investments at PIF, said: “The new agreements are part of PIF’s efforts to localise advanced technologies in the renewable sector in Saudi Arabia and meet commitments to increase the share of local content, as well as contribute to localising the production of 75% of the components in Saudi Arabia’s renewable projects by 2030 in line with the Ministry of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Program.
“These projects will also enable Saudi Arabia to become a global hub for export of renewable technologies.”
Onshoring PV manufacturing in the Middle East
These are the latest solar manufacturing agreements Saudi Arabia has secured so far this year. US solar tracker manufacturer GameChange Solar recently partnered with Chinese firm Jiangsu Zhenjiang New Energy Equipment (JZNEE). The partnership between both companies will see the construction of a new tracker manufacturing facility in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, with an annual component production capacity of up to 3GW. Commercial production of the facility is expected to start later this year, and the capacity could be expanded to 5GW.
A neighbouring country, the United Arab Emirates, could see the development of a polysilicon facility from solar manufacturer GCL Tech. Last month, the company announced it will explore potential cooperation opportunities with Mubadala Investment Company, one of the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund, to establish a comprehensive silicon ecosystem of global and regional significance in the United Arab Emirates.
