Al Dhafra Solar Project, Abu Dhabi

• Al Dhafra solar project is a 2GW photovoltaic (PV) independent power manufacturer (IPP) project, which will be situated in Al Dhafra area, around 35km south of Abu Dhabi City in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The project is being developed under a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme and is 60%- had by Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) and Masdar, both Abu Dhabi-based government-owned electrical power companies. The continuing to be 40% share is owned by EDF Renewables, a French electrical energy firm, as well as Chinese business Jinko Power.

The consortium of TAQA, Masdar, EDF and also Jinko Power signed a 30-year power purchase arrangement (PPA) with Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) to sell power created by the plant in July 2020.

The construction of the power project is expected to begin in late 2020, while the commissioning of the plant is anticipated in 2022. The project will certainly offer power to around 1,60,000 homes in the UAE. The construction phase is anticipated to develop greater than 4,000 jobs.

When fully operational, the plant will decrease carbon emissions by more than 2.4 million tonnes a year. The decrease in discharges will certainly be equivalent to taking roughly 470,000 automobiles off the road.

The solar energy project remains in line with the UAE Energy Strategy 2050, which aims to increase the share of renewable resource in the total energy mix from 25% to 50% by 2050.

Al Dhafra solar project information

Al Dhafra solar project will certainly be constructed in a location of around 20km ²

It will be mounted with the most recent solar PV modules based upon crystalline, bifacial module technology. The solar modules will catch sunshine from both sides for better yield. The project has a reduced solar PV energy tariff of AED 4.97 fils/kWh ($ 1.35 cents/kWh) based on a levelised price of electrical energy (LCOE) basis.

Other infrastructure, consisting of inverters, connection to the transmission network and also associated facilities, will certainly likewise be developed.

There is an added choice to improve the existing battery capacity of 108MW, which is functional in the existing electrical power storage space system of Abu Dhabi.

Bifacial solar modules details

The Jinko Solar's bifacial solar modules broke the globe record for the conversion efficiency of bifacial solar modules, attaining 22.49% performance in January 2020.

Geared up with clear back sheet innovation, the bifacial module has the capacity of 1.5 kW per selection with a dealt with tilt angle of 30 °.

The highly effective cell design of the modules includes ARC, advanced metallisation technologies, along with the business's exclusive innovations. The brand-new tiling bow (TR) modern technology was integrated into the cell layout to eliminate any inter-cell void. It boosts the performance and dependability of the module while boosting its appearance. The high-efficiency modules likewise lower the LCOE, facilitating grid parity.

Solar energy plants in Abu Dhabi

The 100MW Shams 1 located in Abu Dhabi was the first solar business in the center East when it was launched in March 2013. It is a focused solar plant with 768 allegorical trough collection agencies, covering an area of 2.5 km ² and also giving electricity to more than 20,000 homes in the UAE.

Introduced in April 2019, the 1.17 GW Noor Abu Dhabi solar plant (previously known as Sweihan solar photovoltaic or pv power plant) is just one of the world's largest solar power plants, located in the Al Dhafra area of Abu Dhabi.

The Noor Abu Dhabi power plant is geared up with 3.2 million photovoltaic panels throughout an area of 8km ² and fulfills the electricity requirements of 90,000 UAE households.

The Al Dhafra solar project will certainly enhance the solar energy capability of Abu Dhabi to about 3.2 GW.