Belectric, a global leader in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of solar power plants, has joined hands with regional solar pioneer Sun & Life to build the largest solar power plant in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Sun & Life is a subsidiary of Acwa Holdings, Saudi Arabian leader in developing private power and water generation projects infrastructure and utilities projects.

The 10 Megawatts photovoltaic carport system is situated at the recently built North Park offices of Saudi Aramco in Dhahran and will cover all of the 4,500 parking spaces.

An international system integrator and manufacturer for large-scale photovoltaic systems,
Belectric was awarded the project by Saudi-based company Al Yamama, the project principal, building Aramco's Northpark complex including offices and the carpark.

More than 120,000 CIS (Copper Indium Selenide) photovoltaic modules will be installed, supplied by Japanese thin film leader solar frontier (Showa Shell Sekiyu KK).

Belectric Belectric and Sun & Life said they intend to enhance their co-operation to a full scale joint venture in EPC contracting of solar power plants, and manufacturing of Balance of System components in Saudi Arabia.

Belectric, known for its global track record and innovative design providing best system performance at a very competitive cost for solar power plants, executes the North Park Project in co-operation with Sun & Life, said a top official.

'We are very proud to be awarded this project. The clear benefits of the thin-film photovoltaic modules combined with our enhanced plant technologies and project engineering are the contributing factors to drive a solar power plant reliable and efficient under hot climate conditions', remarked 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, he added.

Abdullah Taibah, CEO of Sun & Life, said the company was looking forward to work with Belectric not only to deliver this iconic project, but also to combine both group's strengths and track records to develop solar energy industry, and localize technologies in the region.

Taibah said the company was active in fields of technology development, manufacturing and turnkey solar EPC. 'With the latest developments Solar and renewable resources have become one of the best choices for energy,' he added.

Belectric, which has offices in 15 countries, is the EPC world market leader in free-field and roof-mounted solar power plants. It has built up over 120 free-field solar power plants and 2600 roof-mounted systems worldwide.-TradeArabia News Service