Saudi industrial boosts Dyesol stake to 33.5%

Saudi Arabian industrial giant, Tasnee, has boosted its shareholding in Australian third generation PV tech company, Dyseol, to 33.5 per cent, after exercising a $6 million investment option on Monday.

The two companies said the transaction had the prior approval of shareholders, and would be accompanied by the nomination of Dr Rob McIntyre to the Dyesol board.

Dyesol’s solid state dye solar cell (ssDSC) technology works by applying low cost materials to a surface, such as glass or plastic, in a series of ultrathin layers that are protected by sealants.

This means it can be directly applied to the facade of a structure to achieve highly competitive building integrated photovoltaics.

The technology also has lower embodied energy in manufacture than tradition PV, produces stable electrical current, and has strong competitive advantage in low light conditions.

In a statement accompanying the announcement of Tasnee’s increased investment, Dyseol managing director Richard Caldwell said the company was “very pleased” with the outcome.

“We are very excited by our current prospects with many long-term plans and actions beginning to take effect,” Caldwell said.

“There is a close bond of co-operation and understanding between Dyesol and Tasnee… Together, we share the ambition with all of our shareholders to make this company a truly global success.”

The move by the Saudi company follows last month’s signal from the OPEC nation suggesting that the end of the oil age was in sight.

As Energy Post’s Elias Hinckley wrote here, “Saudi Arabia’s decision not to cut oil production, despite crashing prices, marked the beginning of an incredibly important change.”

Most importantly, he added, it signalled “the acknowledgement, demonstrated by the action of world’s most important oil producer, of the beginning of the end of the most prosperous period in human history – the age of oil.”