United Solar OM (IFC-50916)

Regions
  • Middle East and North Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Oman
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Sohar Freezone, North Al Batinah Governorate
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Aug 8, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
United Solar Polysilicon (FZC) SPC
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Construction
  • Energy
  • Industry and Trade
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Equity, Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 250.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 200.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 1,800.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Jul 2, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Jun 5, 2025

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated by the IFC, United Solar Polysilicon (FZC) SPC, established in 2023, is an Omani Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created to construct and operate a 100,000 tons/year polysilicon manufacturing plant in Sohar, Oman (“the Project”).

The proposed investment includes two separate transactions: (i) a non-recourse project finance transaction of a Gross A-Loan of up to US$200 million (m) to USP for the implementation of the Project; (ii) up to $50 million investment in Preferred Equity of USH, that will infuse these equity funds into USP to meet the Project capex.

The polysilicon manufacturing plant is located in the Sohar Freezone (SFZ) in northern Oman and covers an area of about 1 million square meters. At full capacity utilization, the plant will supply polysilicon to manufacture the equivalent of 40 Gigawatts (GW) of solar modules annually.
USP’s production process includes purchase of trichlorosilane (SiHCl3) and metallurgical-grade silicon (MG-Si) as main raw materials, production of hydrogen from water electrolysis, air separation, cold hydrogenation, distillation, byproducts/wastes recycling, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), vent gas recovery and product finishing. The high-purity polysilicon rods resulting from the process are crushed into pieces and, if needed, cleaned in acidic washes containing hydrofluoric acid (HF) and nitric acid (NHO3) to remove surface contaminants from rods that have accidentally come into contact with the ground. The production process allows recycling a significant portion of the gas and liquid effluents, while the remaining part undergoes treatment processes.
A silicon grinding plant (associated facility) will be located inside the USP plant area and operated by a separate company (Green Origin Industry) to prepare the MG-Si as input material for the polysilicon production process.                                                 

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

As stated by the IFC, the total Project cost is c.US$1.6 billion to US$1.8 billion. The proposed IFC financing to the Project comprises of: (i) an A-Loan of up to US$200 million; (ii) mobilization of up to US$400 million through B-Loans and/or parallel loans; and (iii) Preferred Equity to United Solar Holdings (parent company of USP) of up to US$50 million.

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated by the IFC, United Solar Polysilicon (FZC) SPC, established in 2023, is an Omani Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created to construct and operate a 100,000 tons/year polysilicon manufacturing plant in Sohar, Oman.

USP is fully owned by United Solar Holding Inc. (USH), whose shareholders include IDG Capital, Longgen Zhang and family and others. In addition to the shareholders, the sovereign wealth fund of Oman, called the Future Fund of Oman (FFO), which is owned by the Oman Investment Authority (OIA), has invested US$156 million in USP.

Mr. Longgen (Sam) Zhang (a US citizen) is the founder of USP and the key Sponsor for the Project. Mr. Zhang is a seasoned industry veteran, having 20+ years of senior management experience in US listed entities in the solar PV value chain. Other shareholders include IDG Capital (a leading private equity firm with global operations), and USP Management. Future Fund of Oman (sovereign wealth fund platform managed by Oman Investment Authority) has also invested in USP in form of convertible debt. IFC’s planned equity investment will come alongside additional equity USP is raising.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
IDG Capital Investor Finance invests in United Solar Polysilicon (FZC) SPC Client Energy

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

General IFC Inquiries - IFC Communications:

Address: 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20433
Telephone: +1 202-473-3800
Fax: +1 202-974-4384

Client - United Solar Polysilicon:

Jeniffer Shao - CFO USP
Phone: +968 9859 0372
Email: jennifer.shao@unitedsolarholding.com
Address: Sohar Free Zone PO Box 686, North Al Batinah Governorate 112 Sohar, Oman
Website: https://unitedsolarholding.com

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

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