Dr. Khalid Klefeekh Al Hajri, QSTec Chairman and CEO, joined hundreds of senior executives from some of the world’s most recognized companies to acknowledge the hard work and commitment of all of the 2013 Middle East Business Leaders Award winners.
The ballot of nominees for the 4th Middle East Business Leaders Awards was judged by an international panel of business experts including academics and leaders in the fields of product development, marketing, design, engineering, science and global commerce.
The Leadership in Global Solar Technology Award was presented to QSTec’s Chairman and CEO in the presence of HH Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan by the Secretary General of the Federation of GCC Chambers of Commerce, HE Abdulrahim Hassan Naqi, in recognition of QSTec’s role in developing a solar industry in Qatar and the wider GCC.
“Our countless hours of hard work and determination have resulted in this award for QSTec,” Al Hajri said. “We set out to build and promote a new industry for Qatar and the region, the solar industry, and it is an honour to be recognized for our efforts. We are building the region’s first polysilicon manufacturing facility, partnering with Qatar’s leading organizations and supplying innovative solar solutions and technologies for use locally and internationally. The GCC is one of the fastest growing solar energy markets and QSTec with its focus on quality products, research and service is well placed to meet this growth.”
Qatar Solar Technologies is currently building an 8,000 metric ton per annum polysilicon plant in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar. QSTec and its partners recently supplied the solar technologies for Barwa’s Passivhaus-Baytna project and signed an agreement with the Educate A Child to supply solar technologies to several schools in remote and troubled communities.
“QSTec and our partners are extremely fortunate to be working in an industry that allows us to harness the sun’s energy and make a significant positive impact on communities and our environment worldwide,” Al Hajri said. “The uses for solar energy are seemingly endless and we look forward to working with our partners on many more exciting projects in the future.”
In other news, published reports have QSTec helping to finance the restructuring of Solarworld AG, Germany’s biggest maker of solar panels.
QSTec, a unit of the Qatar Foundation, plans to spend as much as €35 million ($47 million) on the holding when Solarworld sells new stock, according to reports that have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News and Sueddeutsche Zeitung in recent days.
Solarworld has suffered in the face of increased competition, particularly from China, which has pushed the price of solar panels down 75 percent over the past five years.
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