RIYADH – The Kingdom has completed its biggest ground-mounted photovoltaic plant as it seeks to generate a third of its electricity with energy from the sun by 2032. Germany's Phoenix Solar AG (PS4) developed the 3.5-megawatt plant in Riyadh that uses 12,684 panels from China's Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (STP) and inverters from SMA Solar Technology AG (S92), Phoenix Solar was quoted as saying in an e-mailed statement. “This project represents an important milestone in the development of the solar industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Ron Shen, Suntech's vice president of Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, said in a separate statement. Located on the grounds of the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) in Riyadh, the plant was constructed over a period of 20 months. Owned by Saudi Aramco, Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd provided the 12,684 crystalline photovoltaic modules and SMA Solar technology AG supplied the central inverters. The generated energy is fed directly into KAPSARC's medium voltage grid. The German company developed a special solution to accommodate the high temperatures and sand storms. “The photovoltaic array boxes, which normally stand in the field array, were placed in a well insulated, air-conditioned inverter building. This approach considerably improves the conditions under which the power plant can be maintained as well as prolonging its life cycle,” it said. Saudi Arabia plans to boost renewable energy use as a way to pare back on oil consumption used for domestic desalinization and power plants, potentially saving 523,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day over the next 20 years. It aims to have 41,000 megawatts of solar capacity within two decades, Maher Al-Odan, a consultant at the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, said last year. In its “Middle East and North Africa Solar Market Outlook, 2013-2017” report, GTM Research has said that Saudi Arabia looks likely to be the MENA region's first gigawatt-scale market by 2015, with nearly 70 percent of MENA demand expected to come from Saudi Arabia. – Agencies
