Dhafrah PV2 Energy Company has installed the last crystalline bifacial solar panel for the 1,500MW Al-Dhafra solar photovoltaic (PV) independent power producer (IPP) project in Abu Dhabi.

This paves the way for the project company to start commissioning the project, which is expected to reach commercial operation this year.

The project is understood to involve deploying over 3 million bifacial solar PV modules mounted on 30,000 single-axis sun trackers. 

The key shareholders in the firm implementing the project, Dhafrah PV2 Energy Company, are Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa), which maintains a 40 per cent stake, and Abu Dhabi clean energy firm Masdar, EDF and Jinko Power, which each own 20 per cent. 

In March, it was reported that 1,200MW of the Al-Dhafra power plant had been connected to the Abu Dhabi Transmission & Company (Transco) power transmission grid.

Energoprojekt Entel, which advised Transco on the project, also said in March that a 400kilovolt (kV) substation and associated equipment had been tested, completed and connected to the 400kV overhead transmission line in the area.      

The execution of the project, which is the world's largest single-site solar power plant under construction, coincided with global lockdowns and supply-chain constraints associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Al-Dhafra solar PV power plant is key to the state utility's objective to increase its solar power generation capacity to 7,300MW by 2030.

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State utility Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) signed the power-purchase agreement (PPA) and shareholders agreement with the developer consortium implementing the Al-Dhafra solar IPP project in July 2020.

A team comprising France's EDF and China's Jinko Power won the contract to implement the project.

The project reached financial close in December of the same year, with seven international banks providing project financing.

Photo: EPE (2023)

Photo: CMEC (2021)

China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), the project's engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, broke ground on the site in July 2021, after winning the $1bn EPC contract in January of that year.

Project milestones

Ewec received five initial bids for the contract to develop the scheme in November 2019.

The EDF/Jinko Power team submitted a levelised cost of electricity of AED4.97 fils a kilowatt-hour (kWh) (1.35 $cents/kWh).

The consultancy team advising the client on the project includes the UK's Alderbrook Finance, the US' White & Case and Austria's ILF Consulting. 

The project involves the solar plant's financing, construction, operation and maintenance under a 30-year PPA.

The solar plant covers an area of 20 square kilometres. Upon completion, the project is expected to reduce Abu Dhabi's carbon emissions by more than 2.4 million metric tonnes a year, equivalent to removing about 470,000 cars from the roads.

Main photo: Noor Abu Dhabi, Ewec