German company plans to build a 1 gigawatt solar module plant in Egypt

A German solar power company is planning to establish a modules manufacturing unit in Egypt using local raw material.

PSE AG recently announced plans to set up a solar modules manufacturing facility with a capacity of 1 gigawatt at an unnamed location in Egypt. The facility will use Egyptian silica to manufacture solar cells and panels.

The company will first run a feasibility study to determine if Egyptian silica can be used for manufacturing efficient solar cells and panels. For this study the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development has sanctioned funds worth $594,000.

Upon the positive outcome of the study, the manufacturing unit would be established within 2-3 years. PSE AG is also expected to set up a one gigawatt solar power project using the panels manufactured which will be a true test of their efficiency.

Egypt has seen a massive surge in solar power project development of the last few months, with several leading companies setting up projects in the Aswan solar power park.

The feed-in tariffs offered for the Aswan solar power park are comparable to tariffs of most solar power projects in the Middle East. However, it will be interesting to see if Egyptian modules can compete with Chinese modules in terms of prices.

The cheapest solar power projects in the Middle East use modules from China. Phase III of Dubai solar power park uses Canadian Solar panels while one of the cheapest solar power park in the world — Abu Dhabi solar power park — will likely use Chinese modules manufactured by JinkoSolar.

Source: Clean Technica