China and Saudi Arabia, which have recently been expanding their economic and security cooperation, have made a joint investment of over 1.3 trillion won in a solar cell business project. This move reflects their efforts to broaden investment and exchange areas by collaborating in various energy resource sectors beyond oil.
On the 17th, China's state-run Global Times (GT) reported that JinkoSolar's subsidiary (JinkoSolar Middle East DMCC), a Chinese solar panel manufacturer, signed a contract for a 10-gigawatt (GW) high-efficiency solar module production base construction project through a joint investment with Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund and Vision Industry Company's (VI) subsidiary REIC.
The total investment scale of the project established locally in Saudi Arabia amounts to $985 million (approximately 1.3604 trillion won), with JinkoSolar's subsidiary and RELC each holding 40% of the shares, and VI holding 20%. JinkoSolar explained that through the agreement, it will be responsible for IP licensing, research and development, and sales and marketing services.
On the same day, TCL Zhonghuan announced plans to build a factory in Saudi Arabia and signed an agreement to establish a joint venture with VI and RELC to jointly construct a wafer project with an annual capacity of 20 GW locally. The total investment amount for this project reaches $2.08 billion. TCL Zhonghuan holds 40% of the project shares through its subsidiary in Singapore. RELC and VI will support licensing and approval acquisition during this process, while TCL Zhonghuan will handle the practical aspects of factory construction.
Another Chinese solar company, Sungrow, signed an agreement the day before with Aljihaz of Saudi Arabia for the world's largest energy storage project with a capacity of up to 7.8 gigawatt-hours (GWh).
Meanwhile, two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the stock prices of Saudi companies such as Saudi Aramco successfully entered the Chinese mainland stock market on the previous day (the 16th). Both funds recorded a daily limit increase of over 10% amid active trading. According to statistics from Wind, a Chinese financial data provider, the total trading volume of the two ETFs on their first day reached 4.896 billion yuan (approximately 928.4 billion won).
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
