Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japan-based SoftBank Group Corp’s Vision Fund to establish the world’s largest solar power firm in the oil-rich kingdom.
The Vision Fund, the world's biggest private equity fund with backers including Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, Apple and Foxconn, will pump investments into a Saudi company to generate solar-powered electricity in the OPEC powerhouse, Reuters reported, citing SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son as saying.
Son expected the project’s production capacity to reach 200 gigawatts (GW) by 2030.
“That would add to around 400 GW of globally installed solar power capacity and is comparable to the world’s total nuclear power capacity of around 390 GW as of the end of 2016,” the CEO added.
The first phase of the solar power project will generate 7.2 GWs with $5 billion in investments, of which $1 billion will be secured by SoftBank’s Vision Fund, while the rest amount will be provided by the GCC country.
The combined value of the megaproject, including battery storage and solar panel domestically- manufacturing facility, will reach $200 billion, the CEO said.
