SAUDI ARABIA: First Energy Bank (FEB) today announced the establishment of a world class polysilicon production facility, the first of its kind and scale in the region, which is to be located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The project is spearheaded by the strategic partner, FEB and the techno-commercial developer, Project Management and Development Company (PMD) a Saudi based industrial group.
The project will cover a total area of approximately 375,000 square meters in Al Jubail Industrial City .The project, which will be managed and developed by Cosmos Industrial Investment Corp., a subsidiary of FEB, in partnership with PMD and is expected to start production in 2013. The project will have a total production capacity of 7,500 tons per annum of high quality polysilicon product.
The venture is structured to benefit from the world class infrastructure and support facilities available at Al Jubail industrial city. The project is expected to create approximately 400 job opportunities for Saudi nationals. It is expected that future expansion of the project facility (in second phase) would include investments in downstream sector such as manufacturing of ingots, wafers, cell and modules.
The project has achieved key milestones, which includes: (a) the signing of the power supply agreement with Saudi Electricity Company (SEC); (b) securing of the industrial land from the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu; (c) the signing of the market offtake agreement with Vinmar International, Ltd. and (d) completion of market and technical studies.
“Renewable sources of energy will remain a priority globally, and solar energy in particular is a logical industry to take off and flourish in the Middle East and North Africa region. We are therefore bullish on the polysilicon industry, and we are particularly happy to launch such a significant plant in one of the most important industrial hubs in the Gulf region, namely, in Al-Jubail in Saudi Arabia. ” said Vahan Zanoyan, CEO of First Energy Bank.
“The polysilicon project at Al Jubail is a strategic initiative of FEB in collaboration with PMD which is in line with Saudi Government strategy of promoting green and sustainable energy solutions leading to further economic diversification and expansion of industrial base. This project is expected to stimulate opportunities in the downstream sector of the solar energy chain, and has benefited from the support rendered by the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, the Saudi Electricity Company and all other Saudi government authorities” said Majed A. Al-Ahmadi, Chairman of PMD.
The polysilicon plant, the largest plant of its kind in both Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the MENA region, is based on tried and tested design principles utilizing processes and procedures widely accepted in the industry as cost efficient and effective. The project will use advanced and commercially proven technologies in its production processes deriving benefits from the economies of scale and will be one of the lowest cost polysilicon producers in the world.
“The Saudi Arabian government has been one of the earliest advocates of environmental safety and sustainability in this region, and we at FEB are glad that our first project in the Kingdom is fully in line with that long-standing priority of the Saudi government.” added Zanoyan.
“The solar energy industry has under gone major optimizations in the recent years which has led to huge cost reductions and the industry is now looking to compete with the conventional sources of power generation in the near future” added Al-Ahmadi.
Cosmos, a subsidiary of FEB, was established as an investment company focused on investing in energy related projects throughout the region. As the project owner and developer, Cosmos will be responsible for driving the construction process and ensuring that it runs according to plan and meets all design criteria within the allotted timeline.
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