DUBAI: Emirates Insolaire, a solar panel technology company partly owned by the Dubai government, expects to more than double revenue this year to $7 million (Dh25.7m), Managing Partner Rafic Hanbali told Gulf News on Thursday.
The revenue increase, up from $3 million in 2015, will be driven by demand in Europe and the United States and a multi-million dollar investment expanding production capacity and integrating the manufacturing process, Hanbali said.
A joint venture between partially Dubai-owned Dubai Investments and Swiss firm SwissInso, Dubai-based Emirates Insolaire manufacturers coloured glass for solar panels. The idea is that the coloured panels are more aesthetically appealing to cover the facades of buildings, which maximises the energy captured by the sun.
In 2016, the company will increase production capacity to between 60,000 square metres to 80,000 square metres after producing 45,000 square metres in the previous year. Hanbali declined to say how much money the company made in 2015, however, said it was profitable.
In the second half of 2016 it will start manufacturing the entire solar panel in Dubai. The multi-million dollar investment is expected to deliver significant savings.
“The consequence would shorten the time by about two months for delivery and cut the cost by probably about 30 per cent,” he said.
Next year, production capacity will increase to 220,000 square metres and in 2018 to 500,000 square metres. Emirates Insolaire is in negotiations with a semi-private company for a project in Dubai that is slated to start sometime in the second quarter, Hanbali said. It is also in negotiations in Qatar with another semi-private company.
