Saudi Arabia signs MoU with Softbank to establish world’s largest solar project
Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Defense and the Chairman of Board of Directors of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, signed on March 28 with Softbank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up “Solar Power Project 2030” to be the largest of its kind in the world in the field of solar energy.
This agreement is a new framework for the development of the solar energy sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, under which a new company for solar energy will be established. Two solar plants with a capacity of 3 gigawatts and 4.2 gigawatts will be launched by 2019, and solar panels will be manufactured and developed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with a capacity of 150 Gigawatts and 200 gigawatts by 2030.
This MoU is a complement to what was previously signed in the Future Investment Initiative last October. The agreement also states that the feasibility studies between the two parties on this project will be completed by May 2018. The agreement also states that the two parties are committed to exploring the manufacture and development of solar storage systems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the establishment of specialized companies for research and development of solar panels in commercial quantities in Saudi Arabia that allow marketing it locally and globally.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is based on the commitment of the two parties to the production and distribution of solar panels with a capacity of 200 GW in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and marketing it globally, as well as exploring the opportunities to establish industries in the field of power generation systems and batteries in the Kingdom, to support diversification of sectors and create jobs in the field of advanced technologies.
The projects are expected to contribute to creating an estimated 100,000 jobs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its GDP.
Source: © Press Release by Saudi Press Agency. Photo Credit: © Saudi Press Agency.
