The investment for the construction of the factory will amount to 750 million SAR (200 million US dollars), with the factory covering an area of ​​170,000 square meters. The project will be located in the third industrial city of Jeddah and will leverage “advanced manufacturing technologies that meet the latest global quality standards,” according to the company. He added that the capacity produced by the factory would meet the needs of the local market, while strengthening the country’s export capacity.

Photovoltaic solar panel manufacturing in the Middle East

This is the latest photovoltaic panel manufacturing project in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, which has seen a proliferation of announcements this year. In July, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) signed two solar PV manufacturing deals that would build 30 GW of domestic manufacturing capacity in the country, from ingots to modules.

The first agreement was reached with Lumetech, a subsidiary of Chinese solar manufacturer TCL Zhonghuan Renewable Energy, which aims to build an ingot and wafer factory with a nominal annual capacity of 20 GW. While the other agreement was signed with the Chinese solar manufacturer JinkoSolar will bring 10 GW of annual nominal capacity of N-type solar cells and modules in Saudi Arabia.

Neighboring country Oman has also seen interest in upstream solar manufacturing, with polysilicon maker United Solar Holding recently. secures US$156 million in financing for its 100,000-tonne polysilicon plant which is currently under construction and expected to be operational in March 2025. Another notable investment in Oman came from Chinese solar manufacturer Q-Sun Solar which aims to establish 10GW N-type solar cell and module assembly plant in Oman. The factory would have an annual nominal capacity of 2 GW for solar cells and 8 GW for module assembly in the Sohar freeport region.