MUSCAT: Leading Chinese firm JA Solar Technology plans to set up a major solar cell and module production plant in the Sultanate of Oman with an investment of around $540 million.

The new investment, announced in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Friday, represents a further boost for Oman’s bid to position itself as a regional hub for solar photovoltaic manufacturing.

Crucially, it is also a major shot in the arm for Oman’s goals to onshore manufacturing capacity necessary to secure its prodigious requirement of solar PV hardware for its emerging green hydrogen industry.

In its filing, Shanghai-headquartered JA Solar said it plans to invest 3.96 billion yuan (equivalent to about $540 million) in a large-scale facility with an annual capacity of 6-gigawatt high-efficiency solar cells and 3-gigawatt high-power solar modules. The project will to be implemented in phases, it noted.

Currently ranked among the Top 3 global manufacturers of solar PV equipment, JA Solar’s has investments and operations across the integrated industry chain, encompassing silicon ingots and wafers, solar cells and modules, and photovoltaic power stations. JA Solar also operates multiple research and development centres focusing on crystalline silicon, cells, modules, systems and energy storage. Revenues from exports topped $11 billion in 2023, generated on shipments of solar systems cumulatively totaling over 252 GW from its network of 12 manufacturing bases around the world.

Significantly, 2024 has also been a banner year for predominantly Chinese-led investments in Oman’s burgeoning solar photovoltaic manufacturing industry. Just last month, China’s Jietai New Energy Technology Co, Ltd (Jietai Solar /JTPV), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hainan Drinda New Energy Technology Co, announced the signing of a land lease agreement for the establishment of a major solar call manufacturing project at SOHAR Port and Freezone. The plant, estimated to cost around $700 million, will support the production of 5 gigawatts (GW) of high-efficiency solar cells per annum.

Adding to Oman’s investment appeal around solar PV manufacturing is the ongoing development of a world-scale polysilicon production plant at SOHAR Port and Freezone. Polysilicon is a critical ingredient in the manufacture of solar panels, among an array of components, such as integrated chips and sensors for the global electronics industry.

United Solar Polysilicon (FZC) SPC, an international green energy enterprise specialising in the solar industry chain, is developing the 100,000 tonnes per annum capacity plant at a cost of around $1.6 billion. When operational sometime next year, the mega project has the potential to catapult the Sultanate of Oman into the ranks of leading nations with the capability to produce this strategically vital commodity, which also has the potential to ignite investment inflows into a thriving downstream sector in the country.