Abu Dhabi to Build Huge Solar Plant for Cleaner Energy with French and Spanish Partners

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(ABU DHABI, UAE) -- While some big infrastructure projects are postponed or slowed due to the local and worldwide financial situation, others are full speed ahead as happened this week with the announcement by Masdar that it will build a 100 megawatt solar plant with two foreign partners 80 miles southwest of the capital in the mostly desert Al Gharbia region. The Spanish solar energy company Abengoa and the French oil company Total will finance 20 percent each of the total cost of $600 billion.

Masdar's CEO Sultan Al Jaber called the launch of the Shams 1 solar plant "a significant step forward in the growth of solar power and the renewable energy industry." The technology to be used at Shams is already deployed in Spain by Abengoa with Masdar as an investor in the project. Masdar is the Abu Dhabi government's clean energy company.

Work on the plant is due to start this summer. Shams 1 should be ready to go online in 24 months. According to Al Jaber, it is part of Abu Dhabi's plans to supply seven percent of its energy needs from renewable resources by 2020. The solar plant is registered with the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism and eligible for carbon credits.

When Shams 1 is fully operational, it will replace as much carbon dioxide as 1.5 million trees. The effect will be the same as removing 15,000 cars from roads in Abu Dhabi. Masdar is owned by Mubadala Development Company, one of the Abu Dhabi government's investment vehicles.  Masdar is building Masdar City, billed as the first city in the world that generates zero carbon and waste.

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