Abu Dhabi’s utility firm delivers 60% of power from renewables

WAM

Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) has delivered over 60 percent of total power demand from renewable and clean energy sources.

The company generated approximately 5.5 gigawatts (GW) of the total 8.6GW system power demand from its solar power and nuclear energy plants, state-owned WAM news agency said.

Othman Al Ali, chief executive officer of EWEC, said the decision to support carbon-free technologies supports the UAE’s sustainable and economic objectives to achieve net zero by 2050.

The company commissioned the development of three of the world’s largest single-site solar power plants. 

Noor Abu Dhabi began commercial operations in 2019, generating approximately one GW of electricity. Al Dhafra Solar PV will be the world’s largest single-site solar power plant, with a generation capacity of roughly 1.5GW (AC) and is currently under construction.

Once fully commercially operational, Al Dhafra Solar PV will reduce carbon emissions by 2.4 million metric tonnes per year, equivalent to removing approximately 470,000 cars from the road.

In May 2022, EWEC invited expressions of interest (EOI) to develop a new solar photovoltaic independent power project in the Ajban area of Abu Dhabi. Al Ajban Solar PV will be of a similar size and generation capacity to Al Dhafra Solar PV.

The company forecasts that its solar power projects, combined with the addition of nuclear power to the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant grid, will reduce carbon emissions to around 20 million tonnes by 2025 from more than 40 million tonnes by 2020.

The Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant is the first nuclear energy plant in the Arab world and consists of four APR1400 nuclear reactors.