Belectric and Sun & Life are building the largest solar power plant of Saudi Arabia on the premises of Saudi Aramco in Dhahran.

The plant will provide 10 MW of electricity through photovoltaic modules at a car port having 4,500 parking spaces in the recently built North Park offices of Saudi Aramco.

Belectric, a world market leader in the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of solar power plants, is executing the North Park Project in cooperation with Sun & Life, a solar pioneer in the Middle East and a subsidiary of Acwa Holding, a Saudi Arabian leader in developing private power and water generation projects infrastructure and utilities projects.

More than 120,000 CIS (copper indium selenide) photovoltaic modules, supplied by the Japanese thin film leader Solar Frontier, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Showa Shell Sekiyu KK, will be installed.

Belectric was awarded the project by the Saudi Arabia-based company Al Yamama, the project principal which is building Saudi Aramco’s North Park complex including offices and the car park. Belectric and Sun & Life intend to enhance their cooperation to a full-scale joint venture in the EPC contracting of solar power plants and manufacturing of system components in Saudi Arabia.

Belectric is known for its global track record and innovative design providing best system performance at a very competitive cost for solar power plants. Bernhard Beck, CEO of Belectric, remarked that the clear benefits of thin-film photovoltaic modules combined with the company’s enhanced plant technologies and project engineering contributed to making solar power plant reliable and efficient under hot climate conditions,' says Bernhard Beck, CEO of Belectric. The large-scale power plant will produce electricity and feed it in to the public grid by the end of 2011.

'Sun & Life is looking forward to working with Belectric not only to deliver this iconic project, but also to combine both groups’ strengths and track records to develop the solar energy industry, and localise technologies in the region. With the latest developments solar and renewable resources become one of the best choices for energy' says Abdullah Taibah, CEO of Sun & Life.