ENGIE & Masdar Win 1.5 GW Abu Dhabi Solar Project

Emirates Water & Electricity Company (EWEC), the UAE's state-owned water and electricity supplier, has selected the consortium of France’s ENGIE and Abu Dhabi’s Masdar to build the 1.5 GW AC Khazna Solar PV project. Financial close on the project is expected by the end of Q4 2025.  

The project partners, with Masdar as the local shareholder, were selected from a pool of 18 other companies and consortia that submitted technical and financial bids for this facility out of 27 names that submitted expressions of interest (see EWEC Launches Request For Proposal Round For 1.5 GW PV).  

EWEC has now signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the winning consortium of the independent power producer (IPP) project. Both ENGIE and Masdar will design, finance, build, and operate the power plant, while EWEC will only pay for the net electricity supply from the same.

To be built near Abu Dhabi’s Al Khazna region, the Khazna project is expected to power close to 160,000 homes across the UAE with nearly 3 million solar panels installed. It will also use smart technologies like IoT sensors, cloud monitoring, data analytics, and robotic cleaners to improve performance and cut maintenance costs. 

“Khazna Solar PV, our fourth world-leading utility-scale solar project, is a strategic asset that significantly accelerates our journey towards achieving the UAE’s renewable energy targets,” said EWEC CEO Ahmed Ali Alshamsi.

EWEC says this project contributes to its 18 GW solar power generation capacity by 2035 target and meeting 60% of the Emirate’s total power demand from renewable and clean energy sources.

In June 2025, EWEC entered a joint development agreement with France’s EDF and South Korea’s Korea Western Power (KOWEPO) for the 1.5 GW Al Zarraf Solar Project in Abu Dhabi (see Middle East & Africa Solar PV News Snippets).