UAE's utility Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) has launched an auction for a greenfield solar power project with a targeted capacity of 1.5 GW in Al Khazna area of Abu Dhabi.
Interested developers and developer consortiums are invited to submit an expression of interest (EOI) until October 2, 2023, EWEC said in a press release published today.
The Khazna Solar Photovoltaic (PV) project will have a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with EWEC as the sole offtaker. The site is expected to produce enough electricity to power about 160,000 homes across the UAE, eliminating more than 2.4 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
EWEC's planned facility will be similar in scale and production capacity to Al Dhafra Solar PV and Al Ajban Solar PV projects.
“We continue to strategically invest in developing world-leading renewable projects that significantly accelerate our journey to meeting 60 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s total power demand from renewable and clean energy sources by 2035,” said EWEC’ chief executive Othman Al Ali.
Apart from the Khazna Solar PV, EWEC noted in the statement that it intends to commission at least two other 1.5-GW solar PV projects as part of its commitment to adding an average of 1 GW of solar capacity per year for the next decade. The utility is seeking to achieve an overall solar power generation capacity of 7.3 GW by 2030.
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