Top 10 UAE clean energy projects
18 October 2023
Register for MEED's guest programme
The UAE is expected to showcase its growing green credentials at the Cop28 climate summit, which starts on 30 November in Dubai.
In addition to gradually phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and eliminating methane flaring, UAE-based energy and utility companies have mobilised multibillion-dollar public and private investments in utility-scale clean and renewable energy plants, reverse osmosis technology-based water desalination plants and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) projects.
These projects aim to reduce harmful emissions – mainly carbon dioxide – offsetting the environmental impact of the country’s oil industry while it aims to meet its nationally determined contributions (NDCs) for the Paris Agreement, its energy diversification agenda set in 2017, as well as its 2050 net-zero target.
Barakah nuclear power plant
Three of the four reactors at the $29bn Barakah nuclear power plant, located close to the UAE’s border with Saudi Arabia, are operational. Each unit can produce 1,400MW of electricity. The UAE is also looking for opportunities to export its nuclear expertise by investing in and developing nuclear power plants overseas.
Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Solar Park
The UAE’s first and largest solar photovoltaic (PV) installation is located 50 kilometres away from the Cop28 venue. Nearly all the first five phases of the solar park are operational, with a total combined installed capacity of more than 2.4GW. The project’s fourth phase, probably the world’s largest hybrid solar PV and concentrated solar power plant, is nearing completion. The contract to develop the project’s sixth phase, which is designed to have an installed capacity of 1.8GW, has been awarded this year.
Sweihan and Al-Dhafra solar power plants
Abu Dhabi’s first solar PV plant, the 935MW Sweihan independent power project (IPP), began operating in 2019. The UAE capital’s second utility-scale solar PV IPP in Al-Dhafra, which has a capacity of 1.5GW, is expected to be inaugurated imminently. Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) received world-record-low tariffs, as has Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa), for these projects.
Taweelah reverse osmosis facility
With a capacity of 200 million imperial gallons a day, the plant is the world’s largest reverse osmosis-based water desalination facility. Half of the plant’s capacity was completed in 2022, with the other half now in the final commissioning stage. Taweelah is the country’s first independent water producer project, which resulted from the drive to decouple water and power production as a key initiative to decarbonise both sectors.
Reyadah CCUS
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) have been operating the Al-Reyadah carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) facility since 2016. It can capture up to 800,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of carbon dioxide. About 240,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), collected by Al-Reyadah from Emirates Steel Industries, has been injected into Adnoc's reservoirs at its Rumaitha and Bab oil fields to bolster oil recovery.
The project is in line with Adnoc’s commitment to decarbonise its operations, reduce its carbon intensity by 25 per cent by 2030, and deliver on its net zero by 2045 goal. Adnoc estimates the volume of CO2 being locked away underground daily through CCUS deployment across its reservoirs is equivalent to the emissions of more than 1 million vehicles.
Habshan CCUS
Adnoc Gas recently awarded UK-headquartered Petrofac the main contract for a project to develop a $615m carbon capture facility at its Habshan gas processing complex in Abu Dhabi. The Habshan CCUS facility will have the capacity to capture and permanently store 1.5 million t/y of CO2 within geological formations deep underground.
The Habshan CO2 recovery project will be built, operated and maintained by Adnoc Gas and is expected to be commissioned in 2026. The proposed facility will feature carbon capture units at the Habshan gas processing plant, pipeline infrastructure and a network of wells for CO2 injection into oil and gas fields in Abu Dhabi.
Captured CO2 will be permanently stored in reservoirs deep in the sub-surface by deploying closed-loop CO2 capture and reinjection technology at the well site at Adnoc Onshore’s Bab Far North Field, located about 240 kilometres southwest of Abu Dhabi city.
Street lighting PPP
Abu Dhabi awarded two public-private partnership (PPP) contracts in 2020 and 2022 to replace over 176,000 street lights with LED lights. The first phase of the 12-year PPP project is designed to save the municipality AED264m ($71.9m), while the larger second phase is designed to result in cost savings amounting to close to $200m. The project's phase two aims to reduce power consumption by 74 per cent over the 12-year concession period, equivalent to almost 2,400 million kilowatt hours of electricity savings.
Green data centre
Work is progressing on the first phase of the 100MW data centre powered by solar energy at Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai. Hub Integrated Solutions (Moro Hub), a Dewa subsidiary, is the project client. The data centre is envisaged to become the largest solar-powered Uptime Tier 3-certified data centre in the Middle East and Africa, offering digital products and services based on fourth industrial revolution technologies, such as cloud services. The project supports the emirate’s goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and the UAE 2031 Artificial Intelligence Strategy.
Hydrogen pilot site
Dewa, in partnership with Expo 2020 Dubai and Germany’s Siemens Energy, inaugurated the AED50m ($14m) green hydrogen plant at Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Solar Park in 2021. The integrated facility was developed with electrolysis, storage and re-electrification capabilities. Daylight solar power from the solar park will enable the pilot project to produce about 20.5 kilograms an hour of hydrogen at 1.25MW of peak power.
Large green hydrogen projects
There is an expectation that the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy will issue the UAE capital's green hydrogen policy before the start of, or during, the Cop28 climate summit. If this happens, planned green hydrogen projects worth at least $12bn could see rapid progress.
These projects include the 150MW green hydrogen-based ammonia production plant in Ruwais being developed by France's Engie and Abu Dhabi's Fertiglobe and Masdar; the $1bn green ammonia facility being planned by a South Korean-led consortium in Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (Kezad); and the Masdar City green hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel project being developed by Masdar, France's Total Energies, Germany’s Siemens Energy and Japan's Marubeni Corporation.
Other projects that are likely to be highlighted include the planned 400MW battery energy storage system in Abu Dhabi and the seawater reverse osmosis facilities that are under construction or in the bid phase across the UAE.
Projects to retrofit public buildings to improve their sustainability, and the adoption of district cooling and electric vehicle policies, among others, will also likely share the spotlight as the UAE prepares to host its most important event of 2023.
Exclusive from Meed
-
Saudi Arabia seeks firms for 300km water transmission scheme
8 November 2024
-
Saudi Arabia to award 7.2GW Marjan, Hajr and PP12 contracts
8 November 2024
-
Firm poised to win Ruwais cogen contract
7 November 2024
-
Meridiam eyes 2025 close for $2bn Jordan water project
7 November 2024
-
Contractors submit revised bids for Dubai Metro Blue Line
7 November 2024
All of this is only 1% of what MEED.com has to offer
Subscribe now and unlock all the 153,671 articles on MEED.com
- All the latest news, data, and market intelligence across MENA at your fingerprints
- First-hand updates and inside information on projects, clients and competitors that matter to you
- 20 years' archive of information, data, and news for you to access at your convenience
- Strategize to succeed and minimise risks with timely analysis of current and future market trends
Related Articles
-
Saudi Arabia seeks firms for 300km water transmission scheme
8 November 2024
Saudi Arabia’s Water Transmission Company (WTCO) has invited companies to express interest in an upcoming tender to develop an independent water transmission system (IWTS) project in the country.
The Ras Mohaisen-Baha-Mecca IWTS will have a contracted transmission capacity of 515,000 cubic metres a day, and extend approximately 300 kilometres.
The pipeline will be part of WTCO’s so-called Western supply group.
Established under Council of Ministers Resolution No. 32 in September 2019, WTCO is the licensed desalinated water transmission system operator in Saudi Arabia.
It is responsible for water transmission across the kingdom, including operating and maintaining water transmission systems and storage facilities.
MEED reported in March that the responsibility for procuring several water transmission pipeline projects in Saudi Arabia had been transferred from the state water offtaker, Saudi Water Partnership Company, to WTCO.
Competitive process
WTCO intends to conduct a competitive process to select a developer or developer consortium to develop the project on a design, build, finance, lease and transfer basis.
The project company will lease the entire transmission capacity to WTCO under a water transmission development and lease agreement, the term of which is expected to be up to 35 years.
Companies can express interest until 16 November.
WTCO’s transaction advisers for this project include US/India-based Synergy Consulting as lead and financial adviser, US-headquartered Clifford Chance as legal adviser and Austria-based ILF as technical adviser.
The project supports the Saudi National Water Strategy (NWS 2030), which aims to reduce the kingdom’s water demand-supply gap and provide 90% of the national urban supply via desalinated water to reduce reliance on non-renewable ground sources.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/12877936/main.jpg -
Saudi Arabia to award 7.2GW Marjan, Hajr and PP12 contracts
8 November 2024
Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) is expected to award the contracts to develop and build three greenfield thermal power plants with a total combined capacity of 7,200MW by the end of November.
The power plants will be sited at existing power complexes in Hajr, Marjan and Riyadh, and separate from the ongoing independent power projects (IPPs) being publicly tendered.
The expansion project for Riyadh Power Plant 12 (PP12) will have a generation capacity of 1,800MW.
A project company formed by the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) will develop the project along with a team of China-headquartered Sepco 3 and South Korea's Doosan Enerbility, which will undertake the project's engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, according to industry sources.
Saudi utility developer and investor Acwa Power will undertake the development of the expansion projects for Hajr and Marjan, which have respective capacities of 3,600MW and 1,800MW.
It is suggested, and not confirmed, that Sepco 3 will also undertake the EPC contract for both schemes.
Saudi-listed Acwa Power has yet to confirm or announce the new projects.
One of the sources said construction works on these expansion projects could begin by early 2025.
Original power plants
Based on MEED archives, the local Saudi Arabian Bemco signed a SR4.7bn ($1.27bn) contract with SEC to build the original 2,175MW Riyadh PP12 plant in May 2012.
The US' GE supplied eight gas turbines for Riyadh PP12, for which it signed an estimated $141m services and maintenance contract in 2017.
Acwa Power and its partners developed the original Hajr IPP, which became operational in 2015.
It has a capacity of 3,927MW. The 20-year build, own and operate contract is valued at $2.7bn. South Korea's Samsung C&T is the project's EPC contractor.
Raft of gas-fired power plants
The three power plants take to 15 the number of major gas-fired power generation facilities being built and about to begin construction in the kingdom. They have a total combined capacity of roughly 30,500MW, excluding the cogeneration plants being developed for Saudi Aramco.
A team of Egypt's Elsewedy Electric and Germany's SIemens Energy is building a 1,200MW plant in Rabigh.
In September, MEED reported that SEC issued limited notices to proceed to contractors for the following gas-fired plants, which are located in the kingdom's Eastern Province:
- Qurayyah
- Ghazlan 1
- Ghazlan 2
A team comprising Egypt's Orascom Construction and Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas received a limited notice to proceed for the contracts to build a 3,600MW power plant in Qurayyah and a second plant, the 2,900MW Ghazlan 2 project, sources familiar with the projects said.
In addition, the contract to build a new power plant next to Ghazlan 1, which will have a capacity of 2,400MW, is understood to have been awarded to Energy China.
MEED understands that the power plants will be developed on a turnkey EPC basis.
On 7 November, SPPC announced the winning bidders for the contracts to develop four CCGT plants in Riyadh and the Eastern Region.
A consortium comprising Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), Riyadh-based utility developer Acwa Power and South Korea's Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) won the contract to develop and operate the Remah 1 and Nairiyah 1 IPPs, which each have a capacity of 1,800MW.
A second consortium comprising the UAE-based Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa), Japan's Jera Company and the local Albawani Company successfully bid for the contract to develop and operate the similarly configured Remah 2 and Nairiyah 2 IPPs.
Construction work is underway for four IPPs SPPC awarded last year. Taiba 1 and 2 and Qassim 1 and 2 will have a combined capacity of 7,200MW.
Experts say that Saudi Arabia's liquid fuel displacement programme and the need to increase its electricity grid's flexibility to accommodate more renewable power underpin moves to expand the kingdom's gas-fired capacity.
Saudi Arabia envisages that renewable energy sources will account for half of its installed electricity generation capacity by 2030.
SPPC previously indicated that the plants it has tendered and awarded will operate using natural gas combined-cycle technology with a carbon-capture unit readiness provision.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/12871373/main.jpg -
Firm poised to win Ruwais cogen contract
7 November 2024
Kuwait-headquartered Alghanim International is poised to win the contract to design and build a cogeneration plant catering to the Taziz derivatives complex in Abu Dhabi’s Ruwais industrial area, industry sources say.
Known as Project Volta, the planned steam and power cogeneration facility will supply electricity to the plants built at the Ruwais petrochemical complex, some 220 kilometres west of Abu Dhabi city.
Initial plans for the plant’s power generation unit indicated a capacity of 200MW, although this has not been officially confirmed.
Depending on the final project scope and specifications, the project budget could be about $500m.
Adnoc and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) received and opened revised proposals for the contract in January 2023, before the project was put on hold.
According to industry sources, only Alghanim International and India-headquartered Larsen & Toubro submitted revised proposals for the contract in January 2023.
Before an addendum that prompted a revision in proposals, the following companies were understood to have submitted initial bids for the contract in July 2022:
- Alghanim International (Kuwait)
- Harbin (China)
- Larsen & Toubro Power (India)
- Orascom Construction (Egypt) / Elsewedy (Egypt) / Metito
MEED reported in February this year that the main project client, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), has reactivated the tendering process for the project.
Adnoc signed an agreement with Taqa in June 2021 to construct other utilities in the Ruwais complex, including power, steam, cooling, demineralised and wastewater services.
The total investment in building the Ruwais derivatives park will be $5bn. Several derivatives plant projects with an estimated budget of $3bn have been tendered.
Taziz is a 60:40 joint venture of Adnoc and Abu Dhabi’s industrial holding company ADQ.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/12870346/main.jpg -
Meridiam eyes 2025 close for $2bn Jordan water project
7 November 2024
A team led by Paris-based investment firm Meridiam aims to reach financial close for Jordan’s Aqaba-Amman water desalination and conveyance project sometime in 2025.
According to an industry source, the project is progressing well. The developer team is currently working with Jordan’s public authorities and discussing financing with partners.
“There is no definite target for financial close, but it should be reached in 2025,” the source told MEED.
The project is crucial to addressing Jordan’s severe water scarcity issue. The kingdom is one of the world’s most water-stressed countries, consuming nearly 1 billion cubic metres of water a year.
The domestic sector consumes approximately 50% of this, with only 61 cubic metres of water available per person a year, far below the global absolute water scarcity level of 500 cubic metres of water per capita.
Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh announced in August this year that a team comprising French companies Meridiam and Suez and their partners had been chosen to implement the project.
Estimated to cost $2bn-$3bn, the Aqaba-Amman water desalination and conveyance build, operate and transfer project is Jordan’s single largest planned infrastructure scheme to date.
The desalination component of the project will have the capacity to treat 835,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) of water, although the scope of the contract that has been awarded to the developer consortium has a capacity of 300,000 cm/d.
It also includes 445 kilometres of pipelines that will transport desalinated water from the southern Red Sea coast to the country’s northern regions.
In addition to Meridiam and Suez, the developer consortium includes Egypt’s Orascom Construction and France’s Vinci Construction Grands Projets.
According to Meridiam, the project is supported by the US International Development Finance Corporation and the US Agency for International Development (Usaid) in Amman, which has also been advising the Jordanian government on the project.
Founded in 2005, Meridiam manages over $22bn of assets and more than 125 projects to date.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/12870149/main.jpg -
Contractors submit revised bids for Dubai Metro Blue Line
7 November 2024
Register for MEED's 14-day trial access
Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) opened updated bids from contractors for the contract to design and build Dubai Metro’s Blue Line on 7 November.
The RTA asked bidders to submit updated prices last month after they submitted initial offers on 8 October.
The group of China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group, Egypt’s Arab Contractors, the local Binladin Contracting Group and Spain’s CAF submitted the lowest-priced revised base offer of AED22.2bn ($6bn).
The second-lowest base offer of AED22.7bn ($6.1bn) was submitted by a consortium made up of Turkiye’s Limak Holding, Mapa Group, also of Turkiye, and the Hong Kong office of China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC).
The third-ranked base offer was submitted by a consortium of India’s Larsen & Toubro, China’s Powerchina, the local Wade Adams and Hitachi, with a price of AED23.9bn ($6.5bn).
The fourth-placed base offer was from Spain’s FCC, China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) and France’s Alstom, with a price of AED23.96bn ($6.5bn).
Previously, the group of China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group, Arab Contractors, Binladin Contracting Group and CAF submitted alternative offers of AED23.9bn, AED25.2bn and AED21.5bn.
The group of Limak, Mapa and CRRC had submitted alternative offers of AED23.5bn and AED23.9bn.
The Larsen & Toubro, Powerchina, Wade Adams and Hitachi group submitted an alternative offer of AED25bn.
The design-and-build contractor will be responsible for all civil works, electromechanical works, rolling stock and rail systems. After completing the project, the contractor will assist with maintenance and operations for an initial three-year period.
The Blue Line will connect the existing Red and Green lines. It will have a total length of 30 kilometres (km), 15.5km underground and 14.5km above ground.
The line will have 14 stations, seven of which will be elevated. There will be five underground stations, including one interchange station, and two elevated transfer stations connected to the existing Centrepoint and Creek stations.
The scope of the contract also includes the supply of 28 driverless trains, the construction of a depot to accommodate up to 60 trains and the construction of all associated roads, facilities and utility diversion works.
The detailed scope of work for the project includes:
- Civil works, including detailed design and construction of architectural and structural components (including viaducts, tunnels and stations)
- Design and execution of electromechanical works
- Design, procurement and delivery of operation and control systems for rail, stations and facilities
- Design, manufacturing and supply of rolling stock
UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, approved the Blue Line extension project last year. In a post on social media network X, formerly Twitter, he said the project will cost AED18bn ($4.9bn) and will have a length of 30km, half of which will be underground.
He added that the extensions will transport 320,000 passengers a day and serve a population of about 1 million people living in areas such as Festival City, International City, Rashidiya, Warqa, Mirdif, Silicon Oasis and Academic City.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/12869985/main.jpg