First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA – which manufactures thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules based on cadmium telluride (CdTe) as well as providing engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) services – has joined Munich-based Dii GmbH as a new shareholder. The firm was previously an associated partner of the Desertec Industrial Initiative since March 2010.
Initiated in 2009 by non-profit-organization Desertec Foundation and reinsurance company Munich Re (together with other founding members ABB, energy groups E.ON and RWE, Deutsche Bank, HSH Nordbank, M+W Zander, MAN Solar Millenium, SCHOTT Solar, SIEMENS, Spain’s ABENGOA Solar and Algeria’s Cevital industrial group), with partner companies from 17 countries DII aims to create an industrial-scale market by 2050 for renewable energies from the desert regions of North Africa and the Middle East (MENA). Activities include the development of integrated energy markets and the identification of suitable technologies for generating and transmitting energy.
“Our extended dedication to Dii as a shareholder emphasizes First Solar’s commitment to the MENA region, where we see tremendous potential to build a sustainable market for solar power,” says Christopher Burghardt, First Solar’s VP of business development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “Dii is the ideal industrial initiative to bring power from the deserts into reality,” he adds.
“With the largest solar project pipeline of nearly 3 gigawatt contracted worldwide, First Solar has an extraordinary know how for the implementation of the Desertec vision in the MENA region,” comments Dii’s CEO Paul van Son. “This fits very well with the rapidly increasing interest of countries in MENA to expand renewable energy capacity and grid infrastructure connecting the emerging MENA market to Europe.”
First Solar says it is pursuing a wide range of opportunities to support the MENA region’s efforts to cultivate its solar resources. The firm recently established an office in Dubai and is in an advanced stage of opening an office in Saudi Arabia. First Solar is constructing a 13MW solar PV power plant for Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) in Seih Al Dahal, about 50km south of Dubai. This is the first phase of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, an AED12bn project that is expected to eventually cover 48 square kilometers and produce 1000MW of energy for the UAE’s national grid using both PV and solar thermal technology. First Solar has also constructed a 5MW system for the Masdar Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company and donated a complete 3.2kWp system to the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) New Energy Oasis (NEO) program in Saudi Arabia.
