Corporate News: Abu Dhabi Picks Partners for Solar Project
By Nour Malas
253 words
10 June 2010
The Wall Street Journal
J
B2
English
(Copyright (c) 2010, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
ABU DHABI -- Abu Dhabi government-owned Masdar, the renewable energy initiative, Wednesday appointed Total SA of France and Abengoa Solar of Spain as partners on a $600 million solar-power project in the Gulf emirate -- the world's largest concentrated solar power, or CSP, plant.
Shams 1 solar-power station will have an approximate capacity of 100 megawatts and will be developed on a build-own-operate basis in a joint venture. Masdar owns 60% of the project, and Total and Abengoa each hold a 20% share, the companies said in a joint news release.
"We expect construction to start in a few weeks," Mohamed Al Zaabi, the project's manager, said in a presentation in Abu Dhabi. Commercial operations are to start in the third quarter of 2012, Mr. Al Zaabi said.
The CSP plant will have enough capacity to supply 20,000 households.
The project is the first of three CSP plants that will feed green power into the Abu Dhabi grid, Mr. Al Zaabi said. The plant will help meet rising power demand in Abu Dhabi emirate, which is expected to reach up to 20 gigawatts in 2020, from a current eight gigawatts, he added.
Abu Dhabi launched Masdar in April 2006 to establish the sheikdom as a hub for renewable energy and green technologies at a time of rising concerns over global warming, fueled by increased consumption of hydrocarbons.