Masdar powers on in clean energy
abu dhabi — Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, registered a double-digit capacity growth in its clean energy portfolio. There was also a surge in construction activity at Masdar City, dubbed a “greenprint” for sustainable urban development.
These events capped the 10th anniversary year of Masdar, one marked with milestones for the company and pivotal moments for the renewable energy sector as a whole.
During the decade since Masdar was established, the UAE has cemented a global reputation for leadership in clean technology and sustainable development. In the Middle East and beyond, there is a new emphasis on energy diversification.
Perhaps the most significant milestone in the last 12 months was the selection of a Masdar-led consortium in June to develop the 800-megawatt (MW) third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai. In securing the bid, the consortium set a record low tariff of 2.99 US cents per kilowatt-hour to develop what will be the world’s largest solar power project on completion.
Masdar’s flagship operational clean energy project in the UAE is currently Shams 1, the world’s largest concentrated solar power (CSP) plant at the time of its inauguration in 2013.
2.99 uS cents per kilowatt-hour was record-low tariff set by Masdar-led consortium for phase 3 of dubai solar park
As a commercially driven company, Masdar adopts a neutral stance on clean technologies. Masdar followed the announcement of its 800MW project in partnership with Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) by signing a power purchase agreement for another PV project, a 200MW facility in Jordan, the country’s largest solar power plant to date.
This time last year witnessed the official launch of the region’s first utility-scale wind farm, also in Jordan. Masdar is a shareholder in the 117MW Tafila project, bringing experience to the development through its involvement in flagship wind investments such as London Array, currently the world’s largest offshore wind farm in operation.
Masdar announced in May that it had secured £1.3 billion in financing for its second large-scale wind project in the UK, the 402-MW Dudgeon offshore wind farm, which is under construction 32 kilometres out to sea from the Norfolk coast of eastern England.
On schedule to begin commercial operations by the second half of 2017, Dudgeon will deliver annual production of 1.7 terawatthours of electricity, the combined output of 67 wind turbines. That is sufficient clean energy to power an estimated 410,000 British homes and displace 893,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
Masdar’s clean energy projects for 11 Pacific Island countries under the UAE-Pacific Partnership Fund, an initiative backed by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, comprise both wind and solar power installations. Inaugurated in May, the projects are benefitting countries that are among the most vulnerable to climate change, reducing carbon emissions and expenditure on fossil fuels.
The UAE-Pacific Partnership Fund programme illustrates the geographic reach of Masdar’s renewable energy activities, as well as its status as one of the world’s largest installers of off-grid renewable energy projects.
The year also saw Masdar announce the completion of solar power projects in Egypt, the inauguration of a 16.6MW solar power network in Mauritania and the electrification of thousands of households in Egypt and Morocco through the installation of solar home systems.
— business@khaleejtimes.com