Abu Dhabi’s investment into renewable energy reaches $2.2bn

Abu Dhabi’s investment into the clean energy sector has reached Dhs8bn ($2.2bn), according to the chairman on the emirate’s Department of Energy.

Speaking the Emirates News Agency, WAM, Awaidha Murshed Al Marar said that the level of investment reflects positively on the sustainability of the renewable energy sector, with further developments expected in the months ahead.

“The emirate’s investments in the clean energy sector will witness significant growth this year due to a number of new projects in the production of reverse osmosis water and solar electricity production, to be announced in the coming days during the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2019,” he said.

The chairman added that Abu Dhabi’s investments in the clean energy sector started in 2006 with Dhs2.2bn ($600,000) Shams 1 – the largest renewable energy project in operation in the Middle East with a capacity of 100 megawatts – with other projects including solar park, Noor Abu Dhabi.

“Abu Dhabi has built the world’s largest independent solar power plant, Noor Abu Dhabi, in Sweihan with a capacity at 1.17GW at the cost of Dhs3.2bn ($871,000),” said Al Marar.

“An Asian consortium consisting of JinkoSolar of China and Marubeni of Japan offered a tariff of 2.42 cents per kWh, making it the lowest ever levelised cost of electricity bid for solar power,” he added.

Earlier this year the Department of Energy announced that it had started operations at the solar plant, with the entire project expected to be operational and connected to the Abu Dhabi electricity network by April.

Read Abu Dhabi starts operations at world’s largest solar plant

In his conversation with WAM, Al Marar said that the department is preparing to launch new projects that will contribute to the sustainability of the emirate’s energy sector, including a solar project with a capacity of 1,500MW in Q1 this year, and a reverse osmosis water project later in the year.

The UAE’s Energy Strategy 2050, launched in 2017, has laid out an ambition to increase the contribution of clean energy in the total energy mix from 25 per cent to 50 per cent by 2050, while reducing the carbon footprint of power generation by 70 per cent.