The Saudi Arabian government, along with the noted solar developer SunEdison, is currently undertaking a feasibility study for a proposed $6.4 billion fully integrated solar PV manufacturing complex.
The potential project would see the creation of a fully functional and complete “industrial ecosystem” — capable of doing everything from producing polysilicon to assembling PV modules. A preliminary study of the project was already carried out by the National Industrial Clusters Development Program (NICDP) and SunEdison, back in 2013.
PV Tech provides details:
SunEdison said that it was working with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of the Government of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Investment Company (Sanabil Investments) on the complex which would potentially be built at Wa’ad Al Shammal in Saudi Arabia.
The US$6.4 billion production complex if established was said to be expected to employ SunEdison’s proprietary high pressure silane fluidised bed reactor (HP-FBR) polysilicon, and continuous Czochralski (CCz) crystal ingot technology and equipment.
“We anticipate substantial growth of solar PV within the Kingdom and the region. This project will support that growth, and the growth aspirations of SunEdison and our Saudi partners,” stated Ahmad Chatila, CEO of SunEdison. “The combination of SunEdison technology, and the Kingdom’s world-class manufacturing and energy sector expertise will enable us to capitalise on substantial growth in the Kingdom and the region, and maximise the value of solar PV projects supported by this venture.”
Azzam Shalabi, President of NICDP agreed, and added: “This project will be capable of building a complete industrial eco-system that is sustainable and able to compete on a global level by utilising 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.”
