UAE Plans to Build More Solar Power, Batteries in Green Push

(Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates will add more solar power plants and battery storage sites in the oil-rich nation’s biggest ever push to produce carbon emissions-free electricity. 

The country’s capital Abu Dhabi plans to have 16 gigawatts of green generation capacity by 2035, roughly double the current level, Othman Al Ali, chief executive officer of Emirates Water and Electricity Co., said in an interview. The firm expects power demand to increase 5% annually for the rest of this decade, he said. 

The UAE, the first Gulf state to declare a target to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, is hosting the UN’s COP28 climate conference starting later this month. The country has faced criticism for plans to boost production of fossil fuels even as it works to bring on cleaner sources of power. The country is set to add a fourth nuclear reactor to the grid in a bid to boost fossil-free generation. 

Abu Dhabi last week inaugurated a 2-gigawatt solar plant at Dhafra in the desert outside the city. That was the emirate’s second major solar project and EWEC is in the process of tendering out contracts to build two more facilities with a capacity of 1.5 gigawatts each. Two further projects of a similar size are also being planned. 

Abu Dhabi will also add 400 megawatts of battery storage that will allow it to tap clean energy for 24 hours a day, Al Ali said. 

EWEC is responsible for planning and supplying power for the emirate of Abu Dhabi and four smaller sheikhdoms in the country. 

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