Adipec: Taqa to Inaugurate Mega Solar Plant in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC better known as Taqa, will inaugural one of the world’s largest solar plants in Abu Dhabi “very soon”, its group chief executive has said.

The plant with the capacity of two gigawatts is located in Abu Dhabi’s Al Dhafra region and is being built by Taqa in partnership with Masdar, France’s EDF Renewables and China's JinkoPower.

“On the renewable front, in a couple of weeks, we will be inaugurating one of the world’s largest PV projects in the world … when that is fully operational, it is going to help contribute a reduction or avoidance of 2.4 million tonnes of [carbon dioxide],” Jasim Thabet, Taqa’s group chief executive and managing director, said at Adipec on Tuesday.

The plant is “one of the world’s most cost-efficient with a tariff rate of 1.32 cents per kilowatt hour”, he said.

The project was first announced in 2020 and it reached financial close in the fourth quarter of the same year. It was being financed by seven international banks, Taqa said at the time.

The UAE is investing in building renewable energy plants as it aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

The project will cut 6.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually when it is fully completed in 2030. The solar park is one element of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net-Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050, aiming to provide 100 per cent of energy production from clean sources by the middle of the century.