TMTPOST -- As photovoltaic arrays stretch across Saudi Arabia’s NEOM city and solar mounts rise like a forest on the edge of the Sahara Desert in Kairouan, Tunisia, China’s photovoltaic (PV) industry is rapidly expanding across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), marking a so-called “bipolar breakthrough” in global solar markets.

Data from 2024 shows Chinese PV module exports to the Middle East surged 99% to 28.79 gigawatts (GW), with Saudi Arabia alone absorbing 16.55GW. The North African market is seeing similarly robust growth: in the first half of 2025, China’s module exports to Africa jumped 47.5% year-on-year.

Leading Chinese manufacturers and material suppliers are accelerating their presence across the region. Following Kibing Group’s $685 million plan to build Egypt’s largest solar glass factory and Xinyi Glass’s $7 million investment in a solar glass plant, China Southern Glass Holding recently announced a 1.755 billion yuan ($253 million) photovoltaic glass production line in Egypt, with a daily output capacity of 1,400 tons.

China’s central state-owned enterprises are also moving aggressively to establish leadership. On October 10, Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina) and China Energy Engineering Group (Energy China) announced they had secured overseas new energy project contracts worth more than 31.2 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) collectively. Among them, a PowerChina consortium signed a Saudi PV project contract valued at roughly 11.7 billion yuan, while Energy China’s consortium secured projects totaling 19.55 billion yuan.

The surge in exports is being driven by urgent regional energy transition needs. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 aims for over 50GW of installed PV capacity by the end of the decade, while the UAE’s construction of AI data centers is driving demand for integrated PV and energy storage solutions. North African countries are equally ambitious: Tunisia aims for 30% new energy share by 2030, Algeria targets 40%, and Morocco seeks 52% of its electricity from clean sources. Chinese companies have already secured more than 70% of project shares in these markets. In 2024, roughly 25% of new installations in the MENA region stemmed from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Algeria, forming the backbone of regional growth.

China’s involvement in North Africa has gone beyond equipment supply to ecosystem development. Tunisia’s 100MW Kairouan photovoltaic project, built by Tianjin Electric Power Construction, uses automated solar tracking technology and is expected to generate 5.5 billion kWh annually, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 5 million tons. The project also trained 300 local technicians while promoting Chinese corporate standards. In Algeria, the 200MW Tindouf power station constructed by CSCEC created 500 local jobs, while the 300MW Ouargla project together will cut 550,000 tons of carbon emissions annually. In Morocco, CITIC Dicastal’s “Lighthouse Factory” runs entirely on green electricity, reducing carbon emissions by 96,000 tons a year and contributing to local zero-carbon manufacturing standards.

The PV boom is complemented by rapid growth in energy storage. From January to August 2025, Chinese overseas energy storage orders reached 180GWh, up 183% year-on-year, with the Middle East becoming the second-largest market after Australia. Integrated PV and storage solutions are increasingly meeting local needs. For example, Hithium’s 1GW/4GWh “Desert Eagle” project in Tabuk Province, Saudi Arabia, uses 1175Ah batteries capable of operating in high-temperature desert conditions, marking the world’s first GWh-scale long-duration storage application.

Chinese PV firms are also expanding into full industry chain collaboration. LONGi Green Energy and Tongwei, historically focused on PV modules, have entered energy storage. CATL is supplying a 19GWh storage system for the UAE’s RTC project, enabling continuous 24-hour power in high-temperature conditions. Sungrow’s 7.8GWh solution for Saudi Arabia’s ALGIHAZ project has significantly lowered costs per kilowatt-hour.

Localized production is strengthening the entire value chain. TCL Zhonghuan’s 20GW wafer plant in Saudi Arabia, CSG’s 1,400-ton/day glass line in Egypt, and Hithium’s planned battery base complement each other, creating a “wafer–module–storage” full-chain layout. Projects such as Saudi Arabia’s Sudair PV Park benefit from one-stop delivery, spanning inverters to tracking systems—a scale European competitors struggle to match.

Tariff barriers from the U.S.-China trade war are pushing Chinese firms to establish MENA as a key overseas hub. U.S. tariffs on Chinese PV modules remain at 50%, with additional anti-circumvention investigations targeting re-exports via Southeast Asia. By contrast, free trade zones and trade agreements in MENA offer cost advantages. Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone, for example, allows zero-tariff exports to Europe, reducing costs compared with direct shipments.

Market concerns over potential U.S. tariff hikes have prompted production capacity initially intended for the U.S. and Europe to shift to MENA. Many Chinese PV companies are localizing production in Egypt, enabling modules exported to the U.S. to avoid extra tariffs. TCL Zhonghuan’s 20GW wafer plant in Saudi Arabia can supply Europe under preferential agreements, breaking through trade barriers. Re-exports via MENA surged in the first half of 2025, particularly from Saudi Arabia to Europe.

Energy storage firms are using the same model. HyperStrong’s Saudi plant allows products to access all six GCC countries and re-export to Africa, meeting Saudi requirements for 60% localization by 2027 while bypassing U.S. and European tariffs. By 2025, Chinese energy storage exports through MENA are projected to account for 19% of overseas shipments, up 8 percentage points from last year.

By 2030, PV installed capacity in MENA is expected to reach 84GW, with some forecasts projecting as high as 180GW, and North Africa’s share rising substantially. Chinese companies have taken a commanding lead: LONGi’s Middle East and Africa sales are up 76% year-on-year, while Sungrow’s storage orders cover more than 10 MENA countries. HyperStrong has secured a 4GW order in Saudi Arabia, leading the regional energy storage market.

Competition is increasingly focused on technology and ecosystem integration. LONGi’s HIBC modules have achieved a 27% conversion efficiency and large-scale mass production globally. Sungrow launched an integrated “solar-storage-charging-hydrogen” system, targeting data center energy needs. Hithium unveiled a sodium-lithium collaborative system aimed at AI data centers. Chinese standards are also spreading: China Power Construction is promoting PV construction norms in Tunisia, while CITIC Dicastal is developing green electricity certification in Morocco.

From the Red Sea to the Sahara, China’s new energy sector is executing a strategic breakthrough in global energy restructuring. As trade tensions reshape supply chains, MENA has emerged not just as an emerging market but as a regional energy hub linking Europe, Asia, and Africa. What began as simple product exports has evolved into a global competition for full industry chain deployment—China’s “desert gold rush” in renewable energy.