EWEC, the off-taker, revealed on 26 July that the power purchase agreement for the Al-Dhafra solar independent power producer (IPP) 2GW project in Abu Dhabi had been signed with the appointed developers, and the project is planned to reach financial close in October.
The EDF/Jinko Power consortium will hold a 40% shares in the special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up to develop and operate the plant, with Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) and Masdar holding the remaining 60%.
Taqa will serve more than 1 million customers across the UAE through 80,000km of electricity transmission lines and 20,000 km of water pipelines. In addition to now owning 12 power and desalination plants and all of Abu Dhabi’s power and water transmission companies, Taqa owns assets in Canada, Ghana, India, Iraq, Morocco, the Netherlands, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The Al-Dhafra independent power producer will be Abu Dhabi’s second major photovoltaic solar project.