French energy company TotalEnergies has landed an agreement with the largest operator of fully integrated economic zones in the UAE, Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (KEZAD) to solarize its industrial ecosystem assets comprising over 1,750 investors from 17 industrial sectors, to help them generate clean energy.
A subsidiary of AD Ports Group to manage integrated trade, logistics and industrial hub of Abu Dhabi, KEZAD operates 12 economic zones in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Dhafra. Its industrial ecosystem is spread across 550 sq. kms. including 100 sq. kms. designated as Free Zones and covers more than 400,000 m2 of prebuilt facilities.
"Through our collaboration with TotalEnergies, we are keen to realize the complete potential of distributed solar generation across our integrated ecosystem at KEZAD Group, and to enhance the value proposition we can offer to our investors while supporting Abu Dhabi and the UAE's sustainability goals," said KEZAD Group's CEO Mohamed Al Khadar Al Ahmed.
As per the agreement, TotalEnergies will conduct economic, regulatory and techno-commercial feasibility studies for distributed solar generation at KEZAD, to map its full potential across the latter's built assets.
Calling the agreement a 'stepping stone' for many future opportunities, TotalEnergies said it aims to contribute to the development of renewables in the UAE and this partnership will seek to realize full potential of solarization across KEZAD's built assets. Abu Dhabi aims to grow its solar PV capacity to 5.6 GW by 2026.
TotalEnergies recently announced reaching 500 MW of onsite B2B solar distributed generation capacity globally for more than 300 commercial and industrial customers, and aims to scale it up 1 GW by 2023 (see Europe PV News Snippets).
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