New module factory planned ‘to be set up’ in the Kingdom

TDT | Manama

Bahrain-based Solartecc Green Energy Factory is building a 25 MW capacity solar module manufacturing facility at the Bahrain International Investment Park. The production equipment will be supplied by Italian provider Ecoprogetti, PV Magazine reported. “The manufacturer will produce high-efficiency mono PERC modules,” an Ecoprogetti spokesperson told PV Magazine.

“The line has a current capacity of 25 MW but it may be easily expanded to 50 MW.” Production is planned from the third quarter, when Solartecc will manufacture double-glass and glass-backsheet panels and polycrystalline products. “The panels produced there may have all kind of applications, from the residential segment to the large scale business,” added the Ecoprogetti spokesperson.

Completion of the fab will make Solartecc Bahrain’s second solar module maker after the appropriately-named SolarOne, which owns and operates a 15 MW facility in Askar, a village on the southeastern coast. Bahrain wants to bring 255 MW of solar generation capacity online by 2025 using net metering, tenders for large scale projects and a renewable energy mandate for new buildings, the magazine reported.

In mid-January, the Solar Energy Unit of Bahrain and the United Nations Development Program launched a 3 MW tender for solar arrays at eight locations containing 66 government buildings. The Kingdom’s renewable energy target envisages 700 MW of solar, wind and energy-from-waste generation capacity by 2030.