Abu Dhabi Solar Power Plans Unveiled

A firm in Abu Dhabi has unveiled plans to construct the world’s largest single solar power site. In so doing, the firm – Masdar – is set to collaborate with France’s Total and Spain’s Abengoa Solar on the solar plant, which will cost $600 million to develop.

The site will be known as Shams 1 and, once activated, will generate 100MW of renewable energy. This amount represents a small portion of Abu Dhabi’s overall energy requirements which – as of 2020 – are scheduled to hit 20GW. However, Masdar and its associates see Shams 1 as a stepping stone towards an ultimate goal of having renewable energy sources like solar providing seven per cent of Abu Dhabi’s power by 2020.

Approximately one-a-half-million people live in Abu Dhabi, a state that’s become known for its vast oil reserves. The emirate is aiming to become more environmentally active and, in connection with this, the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency are set to relocate there as per an announcement made in June 2009.

Shams I Abu Dhabi Solar Plant

The Shams 1 Abu Dhabi solar plant will be sited 75 miles outside of Abu Dhabi City. Masdar will own 60 per cent of it, while the two European energy firms will share the remaining 40 per cent equally. It will feed energy into the national grid which it will produce through concentrated solar power technologies.

Abu Dhabi already has Masdar City which, although not yet open, is set to become the world’s first renewable energy source-powered, carbon neutral, zero-waste city. According to some sources, however, the Masdar City project has run into difficulties.

Concentrated Solar Power: Abu Dhabi

Concentrated solar power (CSP) – as will be used at the Abu Dhabi plant - differs from photovoltaics. While photovoltaics involves the use of solar panels which convert sunlight directly into electricity, CSP draws on banks of mirrors which vector sunlight into water.

The steam produced when the solar rays hit the water is the source of the electricity that’s generated as the end result of this process and – according to comments published in a 2009 report – concentrated solar power could have the potential to electrify 25 per cent of the world by 2050.

One issue associated with the use of CSP in a desert environment is that of sand covering the mirrors and thereby reducing their efficiency. As per the chief executive of the Spanish firm involved in the Shams 1 project – Abengoa Solar’s Santiago Seage – this can be overcome by employing a fleet of trucks that will stream recycled water over the mirrors during the night-time hours when they’re not in use.