At the Abu Dhabi Climate Meeting on June 30 at the Emirates Palace, more than 1,000 political delegates, energy experts and business leaders gathered to attend a conference on climate change in the United Arab Emirates. Among them, Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, announced the commissioning of the Noor Abu Dhabi solar power plant and is already bidding for the construction of an even larger power station.
With a capacity of 1.18 gigawatt, Abu Dhabi now has the largest independent solar power station in operation in the world.
A solar power station that can power 90,000 people
With Noor Abu Dhabi, officially in service since June 29, 2019, the United Arab Emirates broke the record for the world's largest solar power station. Indeed, the numbers are enough to make you dizzy: more than 3.2 million solar panels spread over an area of 8 km 2 and can meet the energy needs of 90,000 people!
The Noor Abu Dhabi power plant can also boast of providing the cheapest solar energy on the market: at a price of $ 0.024 per kWh, it is more competitive than any other solar power station in the world.
To make this extraordinary $ 871 million budget project happen on time, more than 2,900 people worked on the site for nearly two years.
The United Arab Emirates in the race for the post-carbon society
Scientists estimate that there remain less than 12 years to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century and thus try to avoid irreversible climatic disturbances. The United Arab Emirates seem to have understood this and have therefore already started their energy transition: their strategy launched in 2017 plans to increase the share of renewable energies to 50% in the total energy mix, as well as to reduce by 70% the carbon footprint of their electricity production.
Just two days after Noor Abu Dhabi officially went into service, climate change minister Thani Al Zeyoudi announced the construction of a new, more powerful solar power plant. It is in the Al Dhafra region that will see the day a 2 gigawatts power station. If the project has neither deadlines nor budget allocated, the bids are already open. As a reminder, the previous Noor Abu Dhabi project was jointly won by the Japanese company Marubeni Corp and the Chinese company Jinko Solar Holding.
Let us not forget, however, that despite these efforts in the field of renewable energies and reducing their carbon emissions, the United Arab Emirates does not yet wish to free itself from their most precious resource: oil. Beware of political greenwashing, therefore.
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