Qatar Solar Technologies (QSTec) has announced that it will be building a polysilicon production facility worth approximately US$1bn in Qatar. QSTec's plant will manufacture 8,000 MTPY (metric tons per year) of high-purity solar grade polysilicon and is scheduled to commence operations in 2H 2013.

The site, chosen with future expansion in mind, is located on 1.2 million square meters of land in Ras Laffan Industrial City in the north east of Qatar, the heart of Qatar's LNG (liquefied natural gas) refineries and exports.

Driven by Qatar's long term vision for sustainability, QSTec aims to leverage the country's natural resources and advanced research facilities to manufacture and develop solar technologies locally that will benefit not only Qatar, but will make a positive impact in protecting the environment globally.

Dr. Khalid K. Al Hajri, Board Member and CEO of QSTec said: "By utilizing Qatar's resources today to make polysilicon, which in turn creates a variety of solar energy technologies and products, we are helping the global transformation towards a more diversified mix of clean energy solutions."

"In Qatar we have been blessed with energy both above and below surface. We have tapped the energy below the earth through our LNG exports and now we are looking to the sun with a vision to tapping its unlimited potential," he said.

QSTec's Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract was awarded to the Punj Lloyd Group, a leading EPC conglomerate headquartered in Gurgaon, India. Punj Lloyd won the contract based on a competitive bidding process and has a major presence in Qatar executing key EPC projects for the oil and gas sector.

Launched in 2010, QSTec is a joint venture company formed between Qatar Solar (a wholly owned subsidiary of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development), SolarWorld AG and Qatar Development Bank. It is the first major investment in the renewable energy sector made by Qatar Foundation, underscoring the organization's commitment to support Qatar's transformation from a hydrocarbon-based economy to a knowledge and innovation-based economy.

The contract to deliver technology and equipment had been awarded to leading German solar company centrotherm photovoltaics AG in March 2010.