Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday signed a MoU with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son to create the world’s largest solar power generation company in Saudi Arabia. .
The Crown Prince and the Softbank CEO at a press conference in New York said that they expect the solar power project to produce 200 GW of energy by 2030.
According to Al Arabiya the project is expected to support the creation of a domestic solar equipment manufacturing industry in the kingdom.
The report states that two solar plants with a capacity to generate 3 gigawatts and 4.2 gigawatts will be launched by 2019.
The publication notes that the agreement states both the parties are committed to exploring the manufacture and development of solar storage systems in Saudi Arabia, as well as the establishment of specialized companies for research and development of solar panels in commercial quantities that will allow them to be marketed domestically and globally.
This MoU is seen as complementary to the agreement signed in the Future Investment Initiative last October.
Under the agreement feasibility studies between both the parties on this project will be completed by May 2018.
The MoU is based on the commitment of the two parties to the production and distribution of solar panels with a capacity of 200 gigawatts in Saudi Arabia, as well as exploring the opportunities to establish industries in the field of power generation systems and batteries in the kingdom, which will help to support diversification of sectors and create jobs in the field of advanced technologies.
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