Oman’s United Solar completes polysilicon fundraising

Oman’s United Solar Holding has secured $50 million from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), completing its $1.6 billion fundraising for a polysilicon facility.

The plant, in Oman’s Sohar Free Zone, began operations in January and is expected to produce up to 100,000 tonnes by the end of the year.

IFC has arranged and mobilised more than 30 percent of the capital raised for the project, United Solar said in a statement.

Polysilicon is an important raw material used in the early stages of solar panel manufacturing.

“The closing of IFC’s investment completes our approximately $1.6 billion capital raise and is a powerful endorsement of our long-term commercial strength,” said Binyam Giorgis, group CFO of United Solar.

At full capacity, the facility is expected to enable production of almost 40GW of solar modules annually – enough to power up to 12 million homes – while avoiding an estimated 8.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year.

The factory is set to create 3,000 direct and indirect jobs and support Oman’s economic diversification agenda.

Oman Investment Authority, the sultanate’s sovereign wealth fund, is the single-largest shareholder of United Solar.

In January, the state-backed Nama Power and Water Procurement Company announced plans to have six solar power plants with a combined capacity of 6GW online in 2030 and 2031.

Oman is targeting net-zero gas emissions by 2050 and aims to generate 30 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, reaching 100 percent clean-energy capacity by 2050.

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