Masdar moves forward

Masdar City is still under construction, the first buildings are scheduled to open in Q3 2010.

As doubts started to surface about Abu Dhabi’s commitment to its renewables drive, a record-breaking solar project and the region’s first feed-in tariff policy are a bold reaffirmation of the Emirate’s ambitions.

On June 9, Masdar, the state-owned organisation promoting renewables and cleantech, announced that it had awarded the contract for the construction and running of the region's largest concentrated solar power plant.

Coming in the wake of job cuts at Masdar City and speculation about the future of the carbon neutral city being constructed in Abu Dhabi, this was good news indeed.

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The 100MW Shams I independent power plant (IPP) comes at a cost US$600 million, and will be operational by the third quarter of 2012.

The plant will be majority-owned by Masdar, who will hold a 60 percent stake in the project, with Abengoa and Total holding a 20 percent stake each.

The plant will consist of 768 parabolic trough collectors, to be supplied by Abengoa, stretching over an area of 2.5 square kilometres.

It will displace approximately 175,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, equivalent to planting 1.5 million trees or removing 15,000 cars from Abu Dhabi’s roads, Masdar proudly points out.

Shams I will be located 120 kilometres from Abu Dhabi in Madinat Zayed, an area set aside for future solar projects. Construction is to begin within three months of the announcement.