The Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia,UAE,Kuwait and Qatar have been making big efforts to enter the renewable energy area.UAE has been the strongest contender through its cleantech vehicle Masdar making massive investments.Though Masdar has mostly been a failure till date,this has not stopped the others from trying.With massive petrodollars backing these efforts,some of them have a good chance to succeed.Most of these countries have been trying to build nuclear plants to reduce their dependence on oil based electricity.Note oil based electricity is one of the costliest forms and is only feasible in oil rich Middle East.These countries have come the conclusion ( does not take a rocket scientist) that it will be more beneficial to export the oil rather than use it for generating electricity.
While Masdar has concentrated efforts on building thin film and solar thermal plants,Qatar and Saudi Arabia are building polysilicon plants.Note polysilicon is the main raw material used to build crystalline silicon solar panels.With electricity forming the biggest cost for polysilicon,these energy rich countries have an advantage.Qatar has earlier announced a $500 million investment in JV with German solar manufacturer Solarworld to build a 3600 tons factory at Laffan Industrial City location in the northeast of Qatar by 2012.Now Saudi Arabia has decided to get into the poly game as well in building a 3 phased plant in JV with South Korean based chemicals giant KCC.This plant will have a capacity of 12000 tons and will be built by Hyundai Heavy Engineering.KCC recently completed a 6000 tons plant in Daejuk in Korea in JV with Hyundai Heavy which is a sister group company.This is a significant win for South Korea which has managed to win the nuclear energy plant contract with UAE despite stiff competition from Japan,Europe and US suppliers.
Saudi Arabia signs solar deal with South Korea
Saudi-based Polysilicon Technology Co (PTC) has signed a $380 million deal to build a polysilicon plant in the kingdom, it said on Sunday, as the leading oil exporter seeks to shift toward solar power.
PTC a joint venture between Saudi Mutajadedah Energy Co (MEC) and South Korea‘s KCC Corp signed the engineering, procurement and construction contract with South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering Co and KCC Engineering and Construction Corp.
The plant will be located in Jubail, on the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia and will have an initial production capacity of 3,350 metric tons of solar grade polysilicon.
The first phase of the project will be up and running by the first quarter of 2014, Ibrahim al-Humaidan, executive director of PTC told reporters.
When all three phases of the project are complete — at a cost of around $1.2-$1.5 billion — in 2017, its polysilicon capacity will rise to 12,000 tonnes, Humaidan added.