Abu Dhabi’s Taqa has reached financial close for the 2GW Al Dhafra Solar PV IPP project, the state-led firm announced on 22 December. When Taqa (40%) and partners Masdar (20%), EDF Renewables (20%) and JinkoPower (20%) were awarded the project in July it was at a world leading tariff of just US¢1.35/kWh (MEES, 31 July). Taqa now says that this has fallen further to US¢1.32/kWh “primarily driven by hedging and financing cost improvements, in addition to other optimization efforts.”
Commercial operations are planned to begin in 2022, and will bring the UAE’s solar power capacity to 6.1GW – of which nearly 3.3GW will be in Abu Dhabi – further helping it diversify away from gas-fired generation (see main story).
Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel al-Ramahi said the project “underlines the growing appeal of renewable energy from both a commercial and environmental perspective, and the attractiveness of the UAE as a location for the world’s largest and most cost-competitive renewable energy projects.”
