2 GW Abu Dhabi Solar Project Partners Announced

• 2 GW Al Dhafra Solar PV Project to be built by a consortium of TAQA, Masdar, EDF and JinkoPower
• EWEC has executed PPA and shareholders' agreement with the consortium
• While TAQA and Masdar will be 60% stakeholders in the project, EDF and JinkoPower will retain 40% share
• It will be built using bifacial solar panels and full commissioning is scheduled for H2/2022

The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) has officially announced itself and its consortium partners as the winners of the 2 GW Al Dhafra Solar PV Independent Power Producer (IPP) project to be built in Abu Dhabi. Along with these companies are Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), France's EDF and China's JinkoPower.

The consortium partners have entered into a power purchase agreement and shareholders' agreement with the UAE's Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) for the project. They plan to equip the project with crystalline bifacial solar technology, said Bruno Benasasson, EDF Group Senior Executive Vice-President Renewable Energies and CEO of EDF Renewables.

The project will be owned by the consortium TAQA and Masdar (60%), and by EDF and JinkoPower (40%). It is expected to achieve financial closure in Q3/2020 with commissioning due in 2 phases – initial power generation can begin in H1/2022 and full generation by H2/2022. Once it is completely online, Abu Dhabi's solar power capacity will increase to around 3.2 GW.

"We are delighted to work with our partners and sign a PPA with a record-low tariff for solar power. We are working to secure long-term energy supply and reinforce solar powers integral role in meeting current and future energy needs," said EWEC CEO Othman Al Ali. "Combined with key technological advances, the Al Dhafra Solar PV project will have a significant impact on diversifying the approach to our current electricity supply, and drive our strategy plan to further contribute towards the sectors transformation in water and electricity production, as we develop a low carbon grid in the UAE."

In May 2020, EWEC announced results of the 2 GW solar project tender as having received the winning bid of $0.0135 per kWh from an unidentified consortium, touted as the lowest winning solar tariff to date (see World's Lowest Solar Tariff For 2 GW Abu Dhabi Tender). Back then Greentech Media (GTM) said Abu Dhabi Power Corporation (ADPower) confirmed the consortium comprising EDF and JinkoSolar to have beat other contenders as ACWA Power, Engie, and consortiums of Marubeni and Total, SoftBank Energy and Eni to bag the project. ADPower is now majority owned by TAQA.

The 2 GW project is even larger than TAQA's existing 1.2 GW Noor Abu Dhabi Solar Plant that has been operational since mid 2019 with JinkoSolar as one of the consortium partners (see 1.17 GW Sweihan Solar Project Energized).

JinkoSolar will present its latest module innovations and participate in an Executive Panel at the 500 W+ Solar Module Virtual Conference of TaiyangNews on July 29 & July 30, 2020. Registration to the virtual conference is for free here.