OMAN’S Phoenix Solar, a subsidiary of German international photovoltaic system integrator Phoenix Solar,  is building a solar park with a peak power of 3.5 MW for Saudi Aramco.

Saudi Aramco commissioned Phoenix Solar last year to install a photovoltaic testing field designed to analyse different module technologies at its headquarters in Dhahran.

The solar power plant will be built on land where the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (Kapsarc) is currently under construction, close to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Kapsarc itself is believed to be the largest energy research centre in the world and is being built towards achieving Leed (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification from the US Green Building Council.

Together with Naizak Global Engineering Systems, its local project partner, Phoenix Solar will design and build the grid-connected ground-mounted photovoltaic plant by the end of September this year.

Phoenix Solar’s principal is M R Khathlan (MRK), a Saudi company which, in its capacity as general contractor, will design and build the electricity and water supply of the centre.

The photovoltaic project was awarded through an international bidding procedure. Alongside Phoenix Solar’s competence in power plant construction and the presence of the company in the Gulf, a determinant factor for winning the contract was the experience gathered by Phoenix Solar from the test facility.