Chinese photovoltaic materials giant GCL Technology is considering building its first overseas granular silicon project in the United Arab Emirates.

GCL will explore potential cooperation opportunities with its investor Mubadala Investment PJSC to establish an integrated silicon ecosystem in the UAE that would become the company’s largest overseas polysilicon research, development, and manufacturing base, Suzhou-based GCL announced yesterday.

Mubadala Investment PJSC is a sovereign investor managing diversified assets and portfolios in the UAE and abroad, generating sustainable financial returns for the Government of Abu Dhabi, GCL noted.

With the Belt and Road Initiative and energy transition process, the Middle East can become an important market for Chinese solar companies going global and digesting production capacity, according to Haitong International Securities.

Since last year, Chinese PV companies, including GCL, TCL Zhonghuan Renewable Energy Technology, Trina Solar, and Arctech Solar Holding, have announced investment plans in the Middle East, including polysilicon, silicon wafers, cell modules, and auxiliary material projects.

Solar demand in the Middle East was about 20.5 to 23.6 gigawatts last year, with most of the demand coming from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to statistics from InfoLink Consulting.

In 2017, the UAE launched the UAE Energy Strategy 2050 as the country’s first unified energy strategy based on balancing supply and demand with environmental obligations and creating a conducive economic environment for growth. It set goals for 2030 and ambitions for 2050 to reach net zero.

The updated UAE Energy Strategy 2050’s targets for the year 2030 include increasing the contribution of clean energy generation to 32 percent, mobilizing investments of between AED150 billion to AED200 billion (USD40 billion to USD54 billion) to ensure the energy demand is met, tripling the share of renewable energy, and increasing the installed clean energy capacity to 19.8 GW from 14.2 GW by 2030.

GCL’s shares [HKG: 3800] were trading up 1.4 percent at HKD1.48 (19 US cents) as of 11.05 a.m. in Hong Kong today.