By Isabella Kaminski
Phoenix Solar’s Oman-based subsidiary has won a contract to design and build a 3.5 MW solar PV plant for the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) near Riyadh.
The solar power plant will be located near the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre (KAPSARC), which is currently under construction. The centre will be supplied with electricity from the new solar PV plant.
Phoenix Solar will work with Naizak Global Engineering Systems, its local project partner in Saudi Arabia, to design and build the grid-connected ground-mounted solar PV plant by the end of September 2011.
The project was awarded through an international bidding procedure. Phoenix Solar won the bid following its work with Saudi Aramco, which commissioned Phoenix to install a solar PV testing field designed to analyse different module technologies at its headquarters in Dhahran.
Klaus Friedl, General Manager of Phoenix Solar, says: "The solar market in the Gulf region is still in its infancy. There is, however, a huge potential for solar power plants in Saudi Arabia. We are delighted to be able to build the largest ground-mounted plant in Saudi Arabia and will use our know-how to support the introduction of renewable energies into Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region to the best of our ability.”