Four leading global energy companies – Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, France’s EDF Renewables, Marubeni Corporation, and a consortium consisting of Jinko Power and Japanese JERA – have bid for the development of Emirates Water and Electricity Company’s (EWEC) 1,500MW Al Ajban Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Independent Power Project (IPP).
Al Ajban Solar PV is EWEC’s third solar power project. Once commercially operational, the project will generate enough electricity to power approximately 160,000 homes across the UAE, and is expected to reduce Abu Dhabi’s CO2 emissions by up to 2.4 million tonnes per year.
The plant will also raise EWEC’s total solar power capacity to approximately 4 gigawatts (GW).
Proposals from the four companies will undergo a detailed technical and commercial evaluation process to select the best. The awarding announcement and the execution of the Power Purchase Agreement are expected to take place by the fourth quarter of this year.
Al Ajban Solar PV drives renewable future
Othman Al Ali, Chief Executive Officer of EWEC, said: “Al Ajban Solar PV demonstrates EWEC’s accumulative expertise in commissioning and deploying world-leading innovative, emission-free utility projects to secure and despatch sustainable and reliable power supply across the UAE.
“Receiving these competitive bids demonstrates our expertise in commissioning world-leading renewable energy projects that attract internationally renowned companies to collaborate on achieving the UAE’s carbon-neutral future.”
The Al Ajban Solar PV project will play a big role in enabling EWEC to achieve its plans of raising Abu Dhabi’s solar power generation capacity to 7.3GW by 2030, and supplying 60 percent of the emirate’s total power demand from renewable and clean energy sources by 2035.
EWEC received 43 Expressions of Interest (EoIs) from potential bidding companies and consortiums, with 19 qualifying for the Request for Proposals (RFP) stage after submitting Statements of Qualification.
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