The Solar Partnership Between Germany And Abu Dhabi  

REW has a report on the emerging solar power partnership between Abu Dhabi and Germany - Abu Dhabi: The New Prince of Solar Technology?.

"The Sun," said Jalal al-Din Rumi, one of the world's greatest poets, "must come." And the Arab world, which was an engine for centuries of innovation in science, philosophy and the arts, is now poised to become a leader in solar technology.

Though reported to have 8.5% of the world's oil reserves and 3.3% of the world's gas reserves, Abu Dhabi has launched a fund worth more than US $10 billion to find advanced renewable energy technology solutions to climate change.

Solar energy is also set to power another major Abu Dhabi project — Masdar City. The ultra modern city, due to be completed by 2015, aims to be the first zero-carbon emission and car-free city in the world, housing 50,000 inhabitants and 1,500 companies.

Now Masdar PV, a company belonging to the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, a state-owned vehicle for renewable energy investment owned by the UAE, has announced plans to produce up to 280 MW of thin-film PV a year in Eastern Germany in partnership with Colexon Energy, a Hamburg-based company.

Under the deal, two facilities to manufacture large-scale PV modules, 5.7 square meters in size, are to be built between 2009 and 2013. One factory is to be located in Erfurt in Thuringia; the other in Abu Dhabi.

The facilty in Erfurt Kreuz covering 8 hectares is due to start production at the end of 2009. Production in Abu Dhabi is expected to start in 2010.

The PV production facilities at Erfurt will have an initial capacity of 50 MW. An estimated 180 new jobs will be created in the first phase, but this number is expected to grow to 600 jobs to meet the company's medium-term production capacity goals, said Sebastian Fasbender of the Bundesverbandes Solarwirtschaft, BSW, the German solar industry's umbrella organisation.

Masdar PV is expected to benefit from close cooperation between manufacturers, suppliers, universities and research institutes to be found in the strong PV cluster in Erfurt to develop new technologies and products rapidly.

Thuringia has some of the the strongest PV clusters in the world with 47 solar companies active in the region, employing 2,500 people.