Manufacturing Trinasolar of China to open first Mena factory in Jeddah By Eva Levesque February 20, 2025, 4:34 PM Reuters/Faisal Al Nasser Workers at a solar factory near Riyadh. Trinasolar's plant in Jeddah will make trackers and control systems Saudi renewable energy to hit $125bn Operations begin next month Region is second fastest growing Chinese solar panel maker Trinasolar will open its first factory in the Middle East in Jeddah to tap Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy market, which is expected to reach $125 billion by 2033. The plant in the kingdom’s second largest city will start operations before the end of next month. It will specialise in making solar trackers and smart control systems, Trinasolar said in a statement on Wednesday. This equipment is integral in optimising solar energy generation, particularly in the harsh environmental conditions that are common in Saudi Arabia, such as high temperatures, sandstorms and strong winds. “Upcoming solar farms launched there under the National Renewable Energy Program round six, represent an opportunity of nearly 15GW for us,” Vincent Wu, Trinasolar’s global sales vice-president, told AGBI in an interview last month. Chinese companies are competing to tap growing demand for solutions in a Middle East market where renewable power generating capacity is growing at the second fastest rate after China, according to the Financial Times. Saudi giga-projects are going local with new focus Gulf-China relations are strictly business Saudi Arabia’s Taqa and EDF partner on geothermal energy Chinese businesses are also decentralising manufacturing capacity beyond their home market, including to the Middle East, as exports face higher tariffs from the US, Wu said. Outside China, Trinasolar only has plants in Spain and Brazil. The company had said in 2023 that it would build a facility in the UAE. As part of its Vision 2030 plan, Saudi Arabia is investing to take its renewable power capacity to 130GW by 2030 from less than 3GW now. With solar power expected to play a pivotal role, that would be enough to power 25 million homes. Based on average household consumption, 1GW of continuous electricity generation can potentially supply power to around 875,000 households for one year.
