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Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) announced on Friday that the Al Ajban Solar PV Independent Power Plant (IPP) project has installed its first solar panel, officially marking the start of main construction works.
The 1.5-gigawatt (GW) project, set to become one of the world’s largest single-site solar power plants, was awarded to a consortium of UAE’s Masdar, France’s EDF East and South Korea’s Korea Western Power Company (KOWEPO) in April 2024.
The Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract was awarded in July 2024 to Huadong Engineering Corporation (HDEC), also known as PowerChina Huadong Engineering Corporation (HDEC), which is a subsidiary of Power Construction Corporation of China (POWERCHINA).
Once completed, the facility will deploy around three million photovoltaic panels and generate enough clean electricity to supply approximately 160,000 homes across the UAE, EWEC said in a post on X social messaging platform.
EWEC said the project is expected to prevent more than 2.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, supporting the decarbonisation of Abu Dhabi’s power sector and advancing the UAE’s wider clean energy ambitions.
In April 2024, Zawya Projects had reported that the project is scheduled to start commercial operations in the third quarter of 2026.
(Writing by Deva Palanisamy; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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