UAE Plans $6 Billion Battery-Linked Solar Project in Green Push

The United Arab Emirates is planning a $6 billion mega solar and battery project to provide uninterrupted power supply as it targets a rapid boost in clean energy.

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Bloomberg News

Verity Ratcliffe and Anthony Di Paola

Published Jan 14, 2025  •  2 minute read

A solar plant near Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Photo by Natalie Naccache /Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — The United Arab Emirates is planning a $6 billion mega solar and battery project to provide uninterrupted power supply as it targets a rapid boost in clean energy.

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Abu Dhabi’s state-controlled Masdar will build 5.2 gigawatts of new solar capacity, Chief Operating Officer Abdulaziz Alobaidli said. It will be linked to battery storage that would make the total project one of the world’s largest such facilities when completed by 2027.

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The project is seeking to tackle a critical problem for renewable energy, where supply can be unreliable during periods of heavy demand because of its dependence on the sun shining and wind blowing. Companies have been trying to resolve the problem by using batteries to store the power that can be fed into power grids when required.

The facility will “transform renewable energy into baseload energy,” said Masdar Chairman Sultan Al Jaber, who is also chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. “It is a first step that could become a giant leap.”

The UAE, the first Gulf state to declare a target to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, is building solar facilities and is operating nuclear reactors to cut reliance on hydrocarbons for power. It is looking to add more solar facilities and battery storage sites as the oil-rich nation targets more carbon emissions-free electricity.

The project, which will be built over an area of 90 square kilometers in the Abu Dhabi desert, will be financed by a mix of debt and equity, Masdar’s Alobaidli said. State utility Emirates Water and Electricity Co. will also be involved, Al Jaber said.

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Masdar is targeting battery storage of 19 gigawatt-hours for the facility, the chairman said. Arevia Power and Quinbrook’s Gemini solar energy storage project in Nevada in the US, which has 1.4 gigawatt-hours of storage capacity, is currently the world’s biggest solar and battery project, according to BloombergNEF.

“This is an ambitious plan, and depending when it is built, may be the world’s largest solar and storage project at that time,” BNEF analyst Jenny Chase said.   

Other countries in the Gulf are also following similar paths. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is building solar and wind projects as it aims for a bigger share of renewables in its power grid. Still, crude oil remains the backbone of the economy of most of these nations.

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