SolarEdge Technologies Inc., established in 2006 by Guy Sella, Lior Handelsman, Yoav Galin, Meir Adest, and Amir Fishelov, has entered a joint venture with Saudi firm Ajlan & Bros Holding to deploy renewable energy in the kingdom. According to a statement issued Monday by SolarEdge, their new company will be involved in energy generation, storage, and management for Saudi businesses.
SolarEdge is a global leader in smart energy technology, and Ajlan & Bros Holding (ABH) is one of the largest private sector conglomerates in the Middle East and North Africa region. The JV entity will be established in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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According to the statement, the JV is being formed to support the deployment of smart renewable energy solutions in Saudi Arabia, in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative that aims to reduce the country’s dependence on oil by the end of this decade. Leveraging the established position of ABH in Saudi Arabia and the vast experience accumulated by SolarEdge in smart energy technology, the JV will offer enterprises in the country solutions from SolarEdge’s portfolio of systems for energy generation, storage, and management as well as site modeling and energy transition consultancy.
Zvi Lando, SolarEdge Chief Executive Officer said: “We are honored to partner with Ajlan & Bros Holding and to support Saudi Arabia’s journey towards ‘Vision 2030.’ SolarEdge is committed to driving the clean energy transition on a global scale, exemplified by this JV which will provide local enterprises in Saudi Arabia with the support they need to rapidly transition away from fossil fuels to clean solar energy and meet their aggressive renewable energy goals.”
SolarEdge systems are installed in more than 140 countries, offering a solution to a major problem faced by large-scale solar energy systems. Many solar photovoltaic systems use a central inverter, where the panels are connected in a series creating a string, which delivers all the direct current (DC) power produced into the inverter for conversion into grid-compatible alternating current (AC). The major drawback to this approach is that maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is performed for the entire string, therefore production is limited by the output of the lowest-performing panel. Performance can be impacted by shading and weather conditions.
SolarEdge addresses this problem with power optimizers, small devices placed behind each individual solar panel that offers module-level MPPT, before feeding the energy to a central inverter. Power optimizers also allow panel-level monitoring of energy production, instead of total or string-level data provided by traditional central inverters.
