INTERVIEW - Saudi Arabia’s Desert Technologies eyes 300 MW by end-2016

Saudi Arabian firm Al Jeel Al Hader Trading Co, doing business as Desert Technologies, plans to realise 50 MW-100 MW of renewable energy projects this year, followed by at least 300 MW in 2016, depending on market conditions.

The Jeddah-based company is active in both the upstream and downstream renewable energy segments. It provides investment management, development and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for utility-scale power projects mainly in the Middle East. The 2016 result could be even higher if the stagnated Saudi Arabian green energy market, which was the company’s initial focus, picks up in the months to come, said CTO Dr Nabih Cherradi, who has previously served as technology head at Yingli Solar.

PROJECTS AT HAND

As a result of its move to seek business opportunities outside Saudi Arabia, Desert Technologies currently has roughly 700 MW in the pipeline across the Middle East. Among the most recently announced ones are 150 MW of photovoltaic (PV) and wind schemes in Egypt, which represent a combined investment of USD 250 million (EUR 226.2m). It also has 33.18 MW of solar plant projects in Jordan. All these projects are being executed by the firm’s joint venture (JV) with Italian sector player Enerray SpA. The latter is the solar arm of SECI Energia, part of the Maccaferri Group.

Details on the projects are available in the table below:

EXPANDING ITS HORIZONS

As for Desert Technologies’ future downstream growth plans, Dr Nabih Cherradi told SeeNews the company would gladly take up new projects in various destinations, expanding its activities “without any limitations”. Still, it will consider and evaluate the business endeavours carefully, so that it can make use of its time as efficiently as possible, he added. The company is particularly interested to set foot in Africa, South America and the US. When it comes to Asia and Europe, however, Desert Technologies has certain reservations about making a solo debut and would enter them only under a direct partnership.

GROWING UPSTREAM TOO

In the upstream solar segment, the Saudi Arabian renewables firm’s in-house production capacity for crystalline silicon (c-Si) products, which it uses in its PV projects, amounts to 100 MW at present. It also owns a 20-MW amorphous silicon (a-Si) line used in building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV).

As part of its vertical integration strategy, Desert Technologies intends to launch a solar cell line in 2016, immediately followed by an ingots and wafers lines. All in all, it plan to boost its manufacturing capacity to 200 MW by the end of 2017 and then to 500 MW in 2019-2020.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.905)

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