Financing closes on ‘game changer’ Abu Dhabi solar project

Financing closes on ‘game changer’ Abu Dhabi solar project

Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) – alongside partners Masdar, EDF Renewables and JinkoPower – have announced the successful financial closing of the Al Dhafra Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Independent Power Producer (IPP) project.

Farid Al Awlaqi, TAQA's executive director of generation spoke exclusively with Arabian Business about the deal for the world's largest photovoltaic plant on a single site in the world.

The Al Dhafra Solar PV project is expected to provide approximately 160,000 households across the UAE with electricity

The record-breaking project, located approximately 35km from Abu Dhabi city, will have a capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW) and will supply power to Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC). Once operational, the Al Dhafra Solar PV IPP will be the world's largest single-site solar power plant, using approximately 4 million solar panels to generate enough electricity for approximately 160,000 homes across the UAE.

Financing for the project will come from seven international banks, following the signing of the power purchase agreement in July 2020. Earlier in the year, the competitive bidding for the project led to one of the most competitive tariffs for solar power, set at AED 4.97 fils/kWh (USD 1.35 cents/kWh), which upon financial closing, was further improved to AED 4.85 fils/kWh