The Abu Dhabi solar project at Al Ajban continues to advance steadily, marking significant construction achievements since its initial award in early 2024. Led by a consortium including Masdar, EDF Renewables, and KOWEPO, the project is expected to become one of the world’s largest single-site solar PV plants. Moreover, it is supporting the UAE’s renewable energy strategy.
Consortium Ownership and Structure
The Abu Dhabi solar project is now led by a consortium structured to combine local expertise with international technical capabilities. Masdar holds a majority 60% stake, while EDF Renewables and KOWEPO each hold 20%. This configuration ensures alignment with regional regulatory requirements while leveraging global experience in large-scale solar PV deployment.
EPC Contract and Construction Progress
The consortium awarded the EPC contract in July 2024 to PowerChina Huadong Engineering Corporation, a subsidiary of PowerChina, which oversees engineering, procurement, and construction. Construction officially began in November 2024, and by February 2026, the first solar panels were installed, marking a critical milestone. The project will deploy approximately 3 million bifacial solar panels mounted on single-axis trackers supplied by Arctech, with contracts finalized in early 2025.
The construction phase continues on schedule, with the project expected to reach commercial operations in Q3 2026, confirming the UAE’s ability to execute utility-scale renewable projects efficiently.
Financing and Economic Benefits
Financial close was achieved in September 2024, with six international institutions providing financing: BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Export-Import Bank of Korea, HSBC Middle East, Standard Chartered, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. Valued at approximately $748 million, the Abu Dhabi solar project is expected to supply clean energy to roughly 160,000 homes and reduce CO₂ emissions by over 2.4 million tons annually.
Significance for UAE Renewable Goals
Upon completion, the Al Ajban project will rank among the largest single-site solar PV plants worldwide, enhancing the UAE’s renewable capacity and supporting national net-zero ambitions. The project demonstrates how utility-scale solar investments can contribute to both environmental goals and energy security in the Middle East.
Similar projects such as the $1.9 billion contract awarded to PowerChina to advance renewables in Abu Dhabi are continually accelerating the growth of energy sector in UAE.
Al Ajban Solar Contract
This contract awarded, is the third major contract to be won in the GCC by the French utility developer company (EDF) over the past 12 months. The other two contracts that were won by the French company are: the 500MW Manah 1 Solar Independent Power Project that is located in Oman and the 1.1GW Hinakiyah solar independent power project that is located in Saudi Arabia.
This team that was led by EDF, made a submission of the lowest level electricity cost that was at around 5.1921 kilowatt per hour. This is equivalent to 1.413$ cents/kWh for the Al Ajban solar PV contract.
A Japanese company, Marubeni, made a submission of the second-lowest bid which was at 5.3577 fils/kWh.
The upcoming Al Ajban Solar Contract project is same as the 1,548MW Al Dhafra solar power project, which broke ground in November-and also the Noor Abu Dhabi solar power plant which has a capacity of 935MW and is currently operational. All these projects support the United Arab Emirates Energy Strategy 2050 and also the United Arab Emirates Net-Zero by 2050 strategic initiative.
Goals in Attaining Solar Energy Sustainability through the Project
Emirates Water & Electricity Company has set a target of setting up to 16GW of solar photovoltaic capacity by the time 2036 reaches. This information was revealed by the executive director of the firm who is in charge of strategy and planning in March of the year 2023. For this plan to be successfully executed, it implies that the firm will have to install approximately 1.5GW capacity of solar photovoltaic energy capacity power every year over the next ten years.
By the intervening period that ends in the year 2030, Emirates Water & Electricity Company envisages having another 5GW of solar power capacity so as to attain an installed solar capacity that amounts to 7GW by the year 2030.
According to Smith, the water and electricity company expects its very first battery energy storage system to come online in the period of late 2020s so as to enable maximum use of green energy that will be captured during the day at occasions when the solar photovoltaic fleets fail to produce energy.
Additionally, the United Arab Emirates got to publish its updated national energy strategy in the period of June last year. The update that was published also included the plan of the country which intends to triple its nationwide renewable energy capacity to a capacity of 19 Gigawatts by the year 2030.
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Project Fact Sheet
Project Name: Al Ajban Solar PV Independent Power Project
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Capacity: 1.5 GW
Project Type: Utility-scale solar PV
Contract Type: EPC
Construction Start: November 2024
Main Milestone: First panel installation February 2026
Expected Commercial Operations: Q3 2026
Project Value: $748 million
Status: Under construction
Project Team
Developer / Client: Masdar
Offtaker / Energy Authority: Emirates Water and Electricity Company
EPC Contractor: Power Construction Corporation of China
Consortium / Project Partners:
- EDF Renewables
- Korea Western Power
Technology / Suppliers: Arctech – solar tracker supplier