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Yingli Green Energy plans expansion in Mena region

Yingli Green Energy, the world’s largest manufacturer of photovoltaic solar panels, is keen to expand in the Middle Eastern and African markets with an eye on the region’s multi-billion dollar solar pie, its top officials said at a recent news conference in Dubai.

Evangelos Lianos, Dimitrios Bachadakis and Yao Wen, managing directors of Yingli Solar, at a press conference in Dubai. — Supplied photo

Most of Yingli’s manufacturing facilities are located in China, but it has over 30 branches and 20 warehouses worldwide, and the company will be focusing strongly on growing markets such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Pakistan, Nigeria and other Middle Eastern and African markets, aiming to widen its footprint and support network.

Yingli Green Energy, which manufactures its products under the brand name Yingli Solar, says that its decision to streghten its presence in the MEA region has been driven by the increasing move among governments to deploy environmentally sustainable solutions to run businesses and households in their countries.

Latest reports indicate that over $50 billion will be invested by 2020 in renewable energy production from solar, wind and hydro-electric power in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. Out of this, 7,500 MW is expected to be from solar power. The company is in talks with governments and Independent Power Producers (IPP) in the region to deploy large scale installations, it announced at the news conference.

“Many governments in the Middle East and Africa are decreasing their reliance on traditional power sources in favour of renewable energy solutions,” executive director for Middle East Evangelos Lianos said.

“New legislation has also made it possible for many home-owners and businesses to install solar solutions and have great access to clean energy,” he said, adding: “We’re confident that in the coming years, the region will emerge as a hub for solar power.”

The company is bidding for the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) 100 megawatt independent power producer (IPP) project and will go after others through new offices in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.

Abu Dhabi has set a goal of generating seven per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020 while Dubai’s target is five per cent.

Across the GCC, Saudi Arabia hopes to double its installed electricity capacity by building 54GW of renewable energy by 2032, of which 41GW will be obtained from the sun. Egypt is planning to invest over $1billion into renewable energy production. Algeria is targeting 22GW by 2030.

Currently, Yingli commands more than nine per cent of the global market share in solar panel sales, making it the world’s largest solar panel maker for the second consecutive year.

“Worldwide, the focus shifted towards deploying clean energy in as many applications as possible,” said Dimitirios Bachadakis, managing director, Yingli Green Energy SEE GmbH.

— abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com