Solar power is expected to generate $182 billion investment in Middle East renewables by 2025, despite the disruption caused this year by the global coronavirus pandemic. While experts claim the sector has been adversely affected by the Covid-19 crisis through supply chain disruptions, delays in tendering processes, crashing oil prices and government restrictions, the evidence on the ground appears to suggest business is growing.
Antonio Jimenez, managing director and vice president, Trina Solar Middle East & Africa region, told Arabian Business that sales globally for the company in the first half of 2020 were up 37% and were standing at “above 37 percent” for the region here.
He said: “What we’ve seen is more a delay of projects in the market, more than cancellations. One of the good things about solar power is that they are, in a way, neutral from the economic cycle. When the cycle is good, people want to invest; when the cycle is bad, people want to invest because it’s one of the quickest ways to have savings in a business.
“Nowadays solar power is the cheapest source of energy and, if you want to cut your costs, this is one of the quickest and easiest ways to realise savings.”
According to research from Frost & Sullivan, the pressure to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is compelling in the Middle East.
Dubai-based SirajPower, the UAE’s leading supplier of solar rooftops, earlier in the summer disclosed the signing of a $50 million long-term non-recourse credit facility for solar distributed generation from The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp).
CEO Laurent Longuet told Arabian Business that while the lockdowns and movement constraint have impacted business, the forecasts for the future remain positive.
He said: “As per IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency), the world could unlock a hundred-trillion dollar boost to global GDP and millions of new jobs by 2050 if it makes renewable the centerpiece of the Covid-19 recovery. Out of all renewable, solar growth would be the most central to delivering IRENA’s 2050 vision.”
Utility authorities in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi have invested heavily in developing solar energy resources, which in turn has led to a continued reduction in tariffs for solar photovoltaic energy, which dropped to AED4.97 fils/kWh ($1.35/kWh) in a recent declaration in the UAE capital.
Solar energy equally devotes to the country’s medium to long-term decarbonisation and sustainable development objectives aligned with the UAE’s National Energy Plan 2050.