meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

Ewec signs Ajban solar PV contract

19 April 2024

Abu Dhabi state utility Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) has signed an agreement for the development and operation of Abu Dhabi’s third utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) independent power project (IPP).

A team led by French utility developer EDF Renewables and including South Korea's Korea Western Power Company (Kowepo) won the 1,500MW Al Ajban solar PV IPP contract.

Ewec announced the official signing of the contract on 18 April, the final day of the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

As with previous solar PV projects in the emirate, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) will own a stake in the special purpose vehicle that will implement the project.

It is the second major contract won by the French-South Korean team in the GCC since March last year. The team previously won the contract to develop and operate the 500MW Manah 1 solar IPP in Oman.

EDF, along with Masdar and Saudi contracting company Nesma, also won the contract to develop and operate the 1,100MW Hinakiyah solar IPP project in Saudi Arabia in November.

The EDF-led team submitted the lowest levelised electricity cost of 5.1921 fils a kilowatt-hour (kWh) or about 1.413 $cents/kWh for the Al Ajban solar PV IPP contract, as MEED reported in July 2023.

Japan’s Marubeni submitted the second-lowest bid of 5.3577 fils/kWh.

Ewec requested proposals for the contract in January 2023 and received bids in late June 2023. It qualified 19 companies to bid for the contract in September 2022.

Delivering goals

The Al Ajban project – similar to the 1,584MW Al Dhafra solar IPP, which was inaugurated in November, and the operational 935MW Noor Abu Dhabi plant – supports the UAE Energy Strategy 2050 and the UAE Net-Zero by 2050 strategic initiative.

Ewec aims to install up to 17GW of solar PV capacity by 2035.

The plan will require the procurement of about 1.5GW of capacity annually over the next 10 years. Over the intervening period, ending in 2030, Ewec plans to have an additional 5GW of solar capacity, reaching a total solar installed capacity of 7.3GW by 2030.

Ewec expects its first battery energy storage system to come online in the late 2020s to boost balancing the grid's load as more renewable energy enters the system.

The UAE published its updated national energy strategy in July last year. It includes a plan to triple the nationwide renewable energy capacity to 19GW by 2030.

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/11697793/main.jpg
Jennifer Aguinaldo

Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • Projects market goes back to basics

    3 February 2026

    Commentary
    Colin Foreman
    Editor

    Read the February issue of MEED Business Review

    The Middle East projects market is recalibrating. After years of ambitious project launches that aimed to transform economies, 2025 marked a turning point as the regional projects market declined.

    According to regional projects tracker MEED Projects, the total value of contract awards in the GCC fell by almost a third in 2025 compared to 2024, as spending in Saudi Arabia halved due to challenges with the gigaprojects

    The slowdown in contract awards has forced a return to basics. With budgets under pressure, project spending is now being allocated more selectively. Projects with clear returns on investment, either financial or social, are the ones now moving into construction and towards completion.

    Upstream oil and gas sits within the back-to-basics narrative. Despite decarbonisation targets and the energy transition, oil remains structurally necessary to the global economy, and Mena producers, with low extraction costs, are uniquely positioned to supply it. 

    The second pillar is gas – both a transition fuel and an enabler of diversification. Reflecting that shift, upstream gas and LNG projects have accounted for close to 60% of total upstream spending in the region since 2020, in a pattern that looks set to continue.

    Both trends explain why upstream project spending has continued to rise this decade — reaching about $51.6bn in 2025, even as Brent has softened from its 2022 highs.

    For contractors and suppliers, the opportunity is huge. MEED Projects is tracking roughly $120bn of upstream schemes that have moved beyond the study phase and are expected to be awarded this year. 

    In a market focused on return on investment, upstream continues to stand out as a prospect for 2026 and beyond.

    READ THE FEBRUARY 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Spending on oil and gas production surges; Doha’s efforts support extraordinary growth in 2026; Water sector regains momentum in 2025.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the February 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15558470/main.gif
    Colin Foreman
  • Qatar heads for a growth surge in 2026

    3 February 2026

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15555212/main.gif
    MEED Editorial
  • Qatar’s strategy falls into place

    3 February 2026

    Commentary
    John Bambridge
    Analysis editor

    Qatar enters 2026 with a rare sense of momentum and confidence, underpinned by the most optimistic growth outlook anywhere in the GCC. With the IMF forecasting real GDP growth of 6.1%, Doha is not just set to improve markedly on its 2.9% expansion in 2025, but to break clear of its regional peers. 

    Nor is this dynamic a surprise, so much as one rooted in unusually well-aligned fundamentals. Global gas markets have turned decisively in Doha’s favour, with demand growth resuming in 2024 and strengthening through 2025. Natural gas prices have held up far better than crude and are being buoyed by surging energy demand. Yet all of this only complements the long-term planning of QatarEnergy, which locked in the next phase of the country’s hydrocarbons strategy back in 2021. Doha’s spending of a further $20bn on energy infrastructure in 2025 merely underscored its existing strategy.

    Developments are also looking bullish in Doha’s non-hydrocarbon economy. Total project awards across all sectors in the past five years have swollen the value of work under execution in Qatar by $39bn. Recent awards in the utilities sector include the 2,000MW Dukhan solar scheme, which will double national solar capacity and boost the clean energy mix. In the construction sector, a pipeline of large infrastructure schemes, including Doha’s expansive plans for its highway and rail networks, promises to restore a more predictable rhythm to the market. Altogether, non-hydrocarbon growth accelerated to a 4.4% year-on-year expansion in the third quarter of last year.

    Geopolitically, Qatar has meanwhile emerged from a turbulent period with its strategic position reinforced rather than diminished. Two brushes with wider regional conflict in the past year might have unsettled a less diplomatically agile state. Instead, Doha has leveraged its indispensability – as an energy supplier, mediator and host to key US assets – to secure stronger security guarantees from Washington. Qatar has also emerged as a winner in Syria, where its long-term support for the anti-Assad opposition has translated into substantial current opportunities. Doha-based construction group UCC Holding is now the anchor for two foreign investment deals: one worth $7bn in the energy sector and another worth $4bn in the aviation sector.

    None of this is accidental. As with its investments in the gas sector, Doha’s successes today are the result of long-term strategy. And what lies ahead is precisely what the government has been telegraphing for years – LNG expansion, ambitious public spending and a focus on converting today’s gas windfalls into economic resilience. If 2026 does indeed deliver Qatar a standout performance, it will not be because of commodity prices, but because the different pieces of Doha’s plans are all finally falling into place.

     

    MEED’s February 2026 report on Qatar includes:

    > GVT & ECONOMY: Qatar enters 2026 with heady expectations
    > BANKING: Qatar banks search for growth
    > OIL & GAS: QatarEnergy achieves strategic oil and gas goals in 2025
    > POWER & WATER: Dukhan solar award drives Qatar's utility sector
    > CONSTRUCTION: Infrastructure investments underpin Qatar construction

    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15512753/main.gif
    John Bambridge
  • Aramco completes $4bn sukuk issuance in London

    3 February 2026

    Saudi Aramco has completed the issuance of a $4bn international sukuk (Islamic bond), spread across four tranches on the London Stock Exchange.

    The transaction, under Aramco’s global medium-term note programme, was priced on 26 January and consists of:

    • $500m senior notes maturing in 2029, with a coupon rate of 4%
    • $1.5bn senior notes maturing in 2031, with a coupon rate of 4.375%
    • $1.25bn senior notes maturing in 2036, with a coupon rate of 5%
    • $750m senior notes maturing in 2056, with a coupon rate of 6%.

    In a statement from Aramco, Ziad Al-Murshed, Aramco’s executive vice-president of finance and chief financial officer, said: “This issuance is part of Aramco’s focused strategy to further optimise its capital structure and enhance shareholder value creation. The attractive pricing achieved on the transaction reflects global investors’ continued confidence in Aramco’s financial strength and resilient balance sheet. We remain firmly committed to maintaining disciplined capital management and delivering long-term value to our shareholders.”

    Prior to its first sukuk issuance in 2026, Aramco made two US dollar-denominated issuances last year. The Saudi energy giant issued its first sukuk of the year in May, totalling $5bn in three separate tranches of five-, 10- and 30-year maturities.

    In September, Aramco completed the issuance of a $3bn international sukuk, spread across two tranches on the London Stock Exchange.

    Aramco raised a total of $9bn from two separate bond issuances in 2024. The world’s biggest oil exporter completed a $6bn bond issuance in July that was listed on the London Stock Exchange and comprised three $2bn tranches of US dollar-denominated senior unsecured notes.

    Aramco then completed a $3bn issuance of international sukuk in October of that year, comprising two US dollar-denominated tranches, also listed on the London Stock Exchange.

    The first tranche, worth $1.5bn, matures in 2029 and carries a profit rate of 4.25% a year. The second $1.5bn tranche matures in 2034 and carries a profit rate of 4.75% a year.

    The two sukuk issuances in 2024 marked Aramco’s return to the debt market after a three-year gap. The last time the state enterprise tapped the global debt markets was in 2021, when it also raised $6bn from a three-tranche sukuk.

    READ THE FEBRUARY 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Spending on oil and gas production surges; Doha’s efforts support extraordinary growth in 2026; Water sector regains momentum in 2025.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the February 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15555166/main.jpg
    Indrajit Sen
  • Aldar acquires land for upcoming developments in Abu Dhabi

    3 February 2026

    Abu Dhabi-based real estate developer Aldar Properties has announced the acquisition of several land plots for upcoming developments in Abu Dhabi.

    Aldar said that the plots total over 2.3 million square metres (sq m) across Saadiyat Island and Yas Island.

    The developer expects to deliver more than 3,000 new residential units on these sites.

    On Saadiyat Island, Aldar will build villas and mansions; on Yas Island, it will develop masterplanned communities.

    The projects are expected to be formally launched later this year.

    This development follows Aldar’s announcement in October last year of a series of major projects across the residential, commercial and logistics sectors in Abu Dhabi, with a combined gross development value of AED3.8bn ($1bn).

    Aldar has committed to a new residential community in the Alreeman area of Al-Shamkha, to offer over 2,000 rental units.

    On Yas Island, it will deliver 665 residential units to the rental market, including a gated community totalling 217 units.

    Additionally, Aldar will develop 448 new apartments on Yas Island as an extension of Yas Residential Village.

    On the commercial front, the company will focus on developing office spaces in key business districts across the UAE to meet demand for Grade-A office space.

    Aldar will also deliver the UAE’s first Tesla Experience Centre on Yas Island. The facility, spanning more than 5,000 sq m, will include a showroom, service centre, and delivery and operations hall. It is scheduled for completion in 2027.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15555056/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal