“The Middle East Is A Very Special Market As It Is Without A Doubt One Of The Most Competitive Markets In The World” – Waleed K. AlHallaj, CEM®, REP™, BEP® Business Development Manager – Middle East & Northeast Africa, Jinko Solar

With your strong presence in the Middle East region, please tell us how different is the Middle East PV module market from the other markets?

The Middle East is a very special market as it is without a doubt one of the most competitive markets in the world. Most of the active companies focus on the newest technologies while being very competitive financially. This pushes us to work as hard as possible on reducing the Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) as the smallest detail could make a difference.

What have been some of the new technology trends in the module industry and how have you geared up for the same?

In the past few years, we have seen the industry focusing on increasing the power class of modules by increasing the size of the cells and thus the modules. This trend has helped to reduce the LOCE significantly, but It has many limitations. Jinko Solar was a leader in switching to the M10 cell size (182mm) for our new Tiger Pro modules resulting in 500W+ options for both 72 & 78 options.

Being a leading producer of PV modules, please tell us how your PV modules are best suited to the Middle East market?

The Middle East market has very harsh environmental conditions, which means that only top quality can sustain and perform for a long time. Fortunately, Jinko Solar has been a leader in this sector, focusing on the smallest details such as the back-sheet material. Our modules are also known for their temperature coefficient which allows them to perform well in hot climates. Overall, Jinko Solar has always focused on quality and reliability and the result shows clearly in our market share in the Middle East.

Which are some of the major new projects for you in the pipeline in the Middle East region?

This is a very interesting region with constant growth in the Solar Photovoltaic sector. There are many great projects in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman at the moment. We believe we will see other GCC countries following as well in the upcoming years.

Lastly, please tell us what milestones you are planning for this year?

Being a market leader for a long time is a very hard task. We understand that we need to drive ourselves harder than anyone else. In the upcoming years, we are planning to expand our production facilities to have a yearly increase of almost 50%. We are targeting 30GW+ for 2021 and 40GW+ for 2022. This won’t be easy of course, but we see the demand in the market and hopefully this will allow us to keep our dominating market share in this region and around the world.