UAE's ADPower announces record-low solar PV price for 2 GW project

Dubai — The UAE's ADPower, a water and electricity company based in the capital of Abu Dhabi, said Tuesday it received the world's lowest solar PV price of 1.35 US cents/kWH for the country's largest 2 GW solar project.

Emirates Water and Electricity Co., an ADPower subsidiary, unveiled the price of the independent power producer (IPP) project in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, ADPower said in a statement, without disclosing the name of the first-ranked bidder.

The Al Dhafra Solar PV project is expected to start operation in the second quarter of 2022 and boost the emirate's solar power to 3.2 GW

"The water and electricity sector intends to play a critical role in meeting the target of having 50% of Abu Dhabi's energy needs served from renewable and clean energy sources by 2030, as well as the reduction of the generation system's average carbon intensity by more than 70%, compared to 2015," Jasim Husain Thabet, CEO of ADPower, said.

Five bids

EWEC received five bids in November 2019 for the solar project but didn't disclose the name of the bidders.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., the UAE's biggest energy producer, on Monday announced a joint tender with ADPower to develop a subsea power transmission network for its offshore facilities that will help cut costs and replace gas used for power generation.

ADNOC is partnering with ADPower to replace its gas turbine generators at its offshore production facilities with different sources of energy, including renewables and nuclear power, it said in a statement on Monday. ADNOC's offshore facilities will be linked to ADPower's onshore electricity grid.