World’s largest solar project starts operation in Abu Dhabi

Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) has announced that Noor Abu Dhabi – the world’s largest single solar project – has started commercial operation.

With a capacity of 1,117 megawatts, the Dhs3.2bn solar plant will enable Abu Dhabi to increase its production of renewable energy and reduce the use of natural gas in electricity generation. This will help to make energy more sustainable and efficient, reducing the emirate’s carbon dioxide emissions by 1 million metric tonnes per year – the equivalent of removing 200,000 cars from the road.

Located at Sweihan in Abu Dhabi, the project is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi Power Corporation and a consortium of Japan’s Marubeni Corp and China’s Jinko Solar Holding. The plant features more than 3.2 million solar panels across the 8 kilometre-squared site, and will provide enough capacity to cover the demand of 90,000 people.

Mohammad Hassan Al Suwaidi, chairman of EWEC, said: “The completion of the project marks a significant milestone in the UAE’s Energy Strategy 2050, launched in 2017 to increase the contribution of clean energy in the total energy mix to 50 per cent by 2050 while reducing the carbon footprint of power generation by 70 per cent.

“This is in line with the sector’s transformation strategy by providing alternative sources of energy that can help us improve the sustainability of the water and electricity sector.”

Othman Jumaa Al Ali, EWEC’s CEO, added: “Noor Abu Dhabi will generate renewable energy and will enable us to improve the use of our natural resources. The fact that a project of such scale has been successfully completed on time and on budget highlights our commitment to ensuring sustainable energy for the future and it is a true testament of the emirate’s delivery capabilities to execute world-class energy projects.

“Noor Abu Dhabi will further contribute to the UAE’s renewable sector, exponentially increasing the existing solar capacity of Abu Dhabi, as well as adding to the continuously growing solar capacity of the UAE.”