“We entered this market seven years ago, when we won the largest scale utility-based project, at least at that time. Since then, we enhanced our localization strategy and built up offices in Saudi Arabia and of course in Dubai,” Lei Wu, COO of Sungrow MEA region, told pv magazine at the World Future Energy Summit, which was held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in mid-January.
“This market is growing very fast and, as growth continues, competition increases,” he added. “I believe this growth trajectory will continue for both solar and storage in 2025 and 2026, especially in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which are now two established markets. I expect great potential for the C&I business there, where we already see an increasing amount of projects being built, but large-scale plants will still dominate these markets in the future.”
The company is expecting solid, organic growth of solar deployment in the C&I space over the coming years, as “sustainability targets are being widely imposed by government and corporate stakeholders.”
“The primary drivers for this growth are increasing electricity prices, energy security, energy self-sufficiency, and corporate sustainability targets that today became more relevant than ever,” said Wu. “Reflecting this momentum, Sungrow’s total C&I installations in the MENA region have surpassed 2 GW and are projected to reach an impressive 3 GW within the next one to two years.”
Despite this progress, Wu emphasized the need for policy support to ensure the profitability of the rooftop PV segment in the short term. He also believes that Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq offer new opportunities. “It is important we build stable bases in all of these countries, with local people,” he added. “We are planning to build more service warehouses in some of these, where we already operate different facilities.”
According to Wu, Sungrow secured a 7.8 GWh battery storage deal from Saudi Arabia last year. “We continue to scale operations in the MENA region, as we want to shape the next phase of solar and energy storage development in the area,” Wu concluded.
