Abu Dhabi plans to procure a new gas-fired independent power producer (IPP) project in Sweihan.

The proposed 2,457MW plant will have a combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) or open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) configuration.

State utility Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) expects the plant to reach commercial operation by 2027.

The facility is the first of several gas-fired plants that Ewec is considering procuring between 2023 and 2031, according to the company's latest statement of future capacity requirements, issued in September.

Another IPP with the same capacity, Taweelah C IPP, is planned with a target commercial operation date of 2029.

Three other new CCGT plants are under consideration until 2031.

Ewec last awarded a gas-fired IPP contract in February 2020. The 2,400MW Fujairah F3 CCGT plant is expected to complete this year.

Japan-based Marubeni Corporation will develop and operate the $1.1bn F3 project.

Marubeni submitted the second-lowest bid of 16.812 AED fils a kilowatt hour (fils/kWh) for the combined-cycle gas turbine scheme in 2019.

Another team, led by France’s Engie, submitted the lowest bid of 16.7901 fils/kWh.

France’s EDF and Japan’s Jera submitted a tariff price of 17.109 fils/kWh for the F3 project.

Solar PV

Ewec is expected to issue the request for proposals (RFP) for the UAE's fourth utility-scale solar photovoltaic project (PV4) by the third quarter of this year.

The project is expected to have a design capacity of 1,500MW. It will be located in Al-Ain.

The solar photovoltaic (PV) IPP scheme is expected to reach commercial operation by 2027.

Ewec has referred to its first three utility-scale solar PV projects as PV 1-3.

PV1, or Noor Abu Dhabi, has a capacity of 935MW and has been operational since 2019.

PV2, the 1,584MW Al-Dhafra solar IPP, is under construction and is expected to complete by June.

Bids for PV3, the planned 1,500MW Al-Ajban solar PV IPP, are due on 16 June.

The UAE is due to host the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change's 28th Conference of the Parties (Cop28) in November.

PV3

In September 2022, Ewec qualified 19 companies to bid for the contract to develop the Al-Ajban solar PV IPP. It issued the RFP to qualified developers in January.

The qualified companies include nine developers as managing members and 10 companies as consortium members, according to industry sources.

When complete, Al-Ajban solar IPP is expected to generate enough electricity for about 160,000 homes across the UAE and could reduce Abu Dhabi’s carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2.4 million metric tonnes a year.