Published: 30/08/2018

SOLAR MARKET BECOMES VERY ATTRACTIVE FOR THE GCC

It is a well-known fact that the fossil fuel industry has dominated the economy of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries during the last few decades. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are blessed with a quantity of annual sunlight which until recently has been more of a liability than an asset, as large areas of the region’s land is too dry for agriculture. However, all of that is changing. Direct radiation exceeding 2000 kWh/m2 per day in UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Oman makes for awesome solar potential! Recent developments show that most of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries plan to increase the share of renewable energy (RE) in their future electrical power production.

Very high solar irradiation

Due to the high-solar irradiation in the GCC region, the focus is now on solar photovoltaic energy development. Annual average solar radiation within the GCC countries is relatively equal to 1.1 barrel of oil equivalent per m2. The radiation is the highest in Kuwait, in June–July, (8200 kWh/m2) and the lowest in Oman (6400 kWh/m2).

The potential for photovoltaic panels manufacturing in these countries is undeniable and Ecoprogetti, specialist producer of complete turnkey solutions, took its strategic position in this market environment and created unique, complete turnkey lines of great efficiency with small, medium or large sized production lines, from 10MW to 1.2GW.
Ecoprogetti has been designing, developing and delivering production solutions for PV panels of the most various sizes and types, for a total of more than 8GW of production efficiency installed worldwide, GCC included. Today, 20 years after the business started and with the solar manufacturing landscape again changing especially in the western photovoltaic markets, Ecoprogetti, with its great team of passionate engineers and dedicated management, remains to be the Number 1 choice for its customers. To address the increasing cost pressure and competitiveness in the market, the Ecoprogetti team continues to focus on offering innovative and flexible production solutions coupled with best customer service – of course at competitive prices.

Welcome the bifacial trend!

More and more new module producers are welcoming the trending technology of Bifacial Perc cells and double glass modules which highly increases the module efficiency of the solar panels, serving evermore demanding and knowledgeable customers.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) report, the GCC countries could gain numerous benefits from RE implementation. These include oil savings of about 400 billion barrels and creating 210,000 jobs by the year 2030.

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Like other GCC countries, the UAE has huge solar potentials with the mean annual solar radiation of 2285 kWh/m2 and average sunshine of 10 h per day. Qatar is a country with abundant solar resources, reported to be up to 2113 kWh/m2/year for the ground measured yearly average, calculated considering the 4-year period of coincident data. Also Saudi Arabia is looking to develop an industry of PV module manufacturing. Under its Vision 2030 program, it is restructuring its electricity market and allowing the participation of private companies and investors rather than it being wholly or partially state owned.
Ecoprogetti has supplied various turnkey lines for PV module manufacturing in the GCC, complete turnkey lines that range from 20MW/year to 300MW/year of production efficiency. These companies can now produce bankable tier-1 PV panels, and with Ecoprogetti’s machines, always connected to internet it is easy for the company to stay close to their customers whenever they need production process support. Anything Ecoprogetti designs and assembles is made 100% in Italy with high European standards and all its innovative production solutions as well as the software are made in house by specialists of the Photovoltaic production process.