French oil major Total and industrial conglomerate Zahid Group have established a joint venture (JV) focused on distributed solar generation for Saudi Arabia’s commercial and industrial (C&I) sector.
Called SAFEER – Saudi French for Energy Efficiency and Renewables, the business will specialise in C&I PV installations on rooftops and carports.
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Collaborating for the JV are Total Solar Distributed Generation and Altaaqa Alternative Solutions, a utility and subsidiary of Saudi-based Zahid Group.
The partners said SAFEER’s mission is to bring affordable and reliable solar energy solutions to C&I customers in Saudi Arabia and “lead the way in the development of the ecosystem for distributed generation”.
Julien Pouget, senior vice president of renewables at Total, said the French company will bring its knowledge in on-site solar power solutions “to provide clean, affordable and reliable energy” to C&I customers.
The collaboration comes less than a year after Total announced plans to become net zero by 2050 and reach a 25GW renewables portfolio by 2025. The firm’s clean energy ambitions have since seen it buy a stake in Indian solar developer Adani Green Energy and form a US-focused JV with a division of Hanwha Group to deploy solar and storage projects with a total capacity of 1.6GW.
For Zahid Group, the deal boosts its solar position following its 2018 acquisition of a 50% interest in German utility-scale PV developer Greencells.