Saudi Arabia is courting China for help with the next stage of its energy policy, amid predictions that renewable energy generation will change modern geopolitics. Two Chinese solar giants unveiled Saudi manufacturing plans last month. The world’s fourth-largest PV maker, Longi, is planning a $2 billion Saudi Arabia-based solar panel backsheet production plant in association with the South Korean firm OCI. A feasibility study for the project will be completed by mid-2019, Tariq Baksh, vice president of the chemicals and renewables program at Saudi Arabia’s National Industrial Clusters Program, told Reuters. Meanwhile, the world’s largest thin-film PV manufacturer, Hong Kong-listed Hanergy, announced it would be investing more than $1 billion in a fabrication center to meet Saudi solar demand.

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