Rashid Al Naimi, Vice President (Administration) of Qatar Foundation for Education Science and Community Development, Vorstandsvorsitzender der SolarWorld AG Frank H. Asbeck

SolarWorld announced that it has acquired a 29% stake in the newly founded Joint Venture Qatar Solar Technologies (QST) headquartered in the Emirate of Qatar. The Joint Venture will establish the first production facility for poly-silicon on the Arabian Peninsula. Partners are the Qatar Foundation (70%) and the Qatar Development Bank (1%).

QST will invest a total of more than $500 million in the construction of the new production facility with a planned annual capacity of around 3,600 tons of high-purity polysilicon in its first stage of expansion. Start of production is planned for Q3 2012. At the Ras Laffan Industrial City location in the North East of Qatar the Joint Venture has access to an excellent chemicals infrastructure with favorable energy prices.

With this project, SolarWorld is further securing its supply of solar-grade silicon in addition to the company's own production, its own raw materials recycling activities and its long-term delivery contracts.

[source: SolarWorld]