Jeddah-beth:

Last Wednesday, an esteemed delegation from the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, and the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority visited the Desert Technologies Factory in Jeddah, which is the first national factory working in the production and export of solar panels and the first exporter of solar panels in the Kingdom, the Middle East and Africa. The delegation was received by Eng. Majid Al-Rifaie, Group Chief Commercial Officer at Desert Technologies, and the factory team. This visit comes within the framework of the keenness of ministries and authorities related to renewable energy and the solar panel industry to see the progress of production processes in national industrial factories and its hoped role in Promoting comprehensive and sustainable economic growth, increasing the volume of Saudi non-oil exports, advancing the national product as well as supporting supply chains and localizing key components in the field of renewable energy in line with the objectives of the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision and the “Made in Saudi” Program.

Eng. Al-Rifaie gave the visiting delegation a full explanation of the factory and its latest production lines that keep pace with the latest global technologies used in manufacturing solar panels and the most advanced stages of manufacturing. The control of all production stages achieves maximum productivity and quality, it depends on the adoption of technology and innovation. The high-performance manufactured units of crystalline silicon are suitable for all strategic, commercial and residential projects. The current investment value of the factory portfolio is $210 million, in addition to the planned investment of $1.4 billion in projects in the pipeline.

Al-Rifaie assured the visiting delegation: “One of the most important objectives of the Desert Technologies Factory is to keep pace with the capabilities and objectives of the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision. Our factory, which began its activity in 2012, is a global platform for sustainable development to create, manage, invest, design and build large-scale renewable energy projects, to contribute to building the future of renewables and solar energy. These are Sustainable, environmentally friendly, compatible with global economic and population growth, and the transition to clean energy comes in accordance with the objectives of the Green Saudi and Green Middle East initiatives.”

Eng. Majid Al-Rifaie pointed out that he factory is moving forward in the manufacture of high-quality solar panels, and plans to increase its production capacity in the near future. He added: “We are proud that our factory is part of the National Energy Program, as our solar panel products are exported to many Arab, African and European markets, as well as many strategic projects at the Kingdom's level bringing pride to the Saudi industry.”