EWEC (Emirates Water and Electricity Company) has revealed that it is increasing Abu Dhabi’s solar capacity by almost 2,000 per cent between 2020 and 2030, with a forecasted 17.5 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity.
By 2035, this capacity is projected to exceed 30GW, at which point solar is expected to provide approximately 40pc of Abu Dhabi’s total power generation, said EWEC, a leading company in the integrated planning, purchasing, supply, and system despatch services of water and electricity across the UAE.
EWEC highlighted these plans as it marked the International Day of Light 2026. Led by UNESCO, the International Day of Light celebrates the importance of light in science, innovation, and sustainable development.
This year’s theme, “Light for a sustainable future,” intrinsically aligns with EWEC’s strategic mandate. By harnessing the UAE’s most abundant natural resource, sunlight, EWEC is fundamentally reshaping Abu Dhabi’s energy mix, accelerating progress towards a more resilient and decarbonised power system, it said.
In implementing its strategic plan, EWEC has commissioned the development of five of the world’s largest single-site solar power plants, including Noor Abu Dhabi, Al Dhafra, Al Ajban, Khazna, and Zarraf Solar Photovoltaic (PV). Furthermore, the pioneering ‘round-the-clock’ mega-project, developed in partnership with Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC – Masdar, integrates a 5.2GW solar photovoltaic facility with a 19 gigawatt-hour (GWh) Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), ensuring the continuous delivery of reliable renewable power and enabling EWEC to rapidly scale its renewable energy capacity.
The accelerated integration of solar PV with BESS is an enabler of the decarbonisation of Abu Dhabi’s energy sector. As EWEC implements its strategic plan, the impact is highly measurable. EWEC expects the average carbon dioxide intensity from electricity generation will significantly fall by 51pc, from 335kg/MWh in 2019 to 162kg/MWh by 2030. Simultaneously, by deploying solar power with BESS alongside low-carbon-intensive reverse osmosis (RO) technology to decouple water and power production, the average carbon dioxide intensity from water production is forecast to decrease by 94pc, from 13.5kg/m3 in 2019 to just 0.7kg/m3 by 2030
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