The Sharjah National Oil Corporation (SNOC) has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for a 60 MW solar power plant that's being touted as the largest of its kind in Sharjah. This is the maiden project of Emerge, a joint venture (JV) between Masdar and EDF Group, in Sharjah.
The project will be located at SNOC's Sajaa Gas Complex for captive consumption with excess electricity generated fed into the grid of Sharjah Electricity, Water and Gas Authority (SEWA) once it is online by 2024-end. SEWA will provide power required by the complex during the night.
SNOC expects to reduce its current power demand with the new solar project. It will also facilitate the way for the company to convert more of its gas-powered units to electrically powered ones in the future.
"The gas consumption of our Sajaa Plant currently accounts for the largest share of the carbon footprint associated with our own operations. This project is a significant milestone on SNOC's path to achieve Net-Zero by 2032 on its own operations," stated SNOC CEO Hatem Al Mosa.
Emerge will develop the project on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis for a 25-year duration. The distributed solar generation company has been operational in Abu Dhabi since 2021.
By 2031, the UAE aims to have 30% share of clean energy in its power mix which would include 14 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. Masdar, jointly owned by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala), and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), aims to grow its renewable energy portfolio to a minimum of 100 GW by 2030.
In a related development, Masdar has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) to develop up to 10 GW of renewable energy projects in the country. The $8 billion investment will see ground-mounted, rooftop and floating solar power plants, along with onshore wind and battery energy storage facilities being developed.