Abu Dhabi working on sunshine as Middle East’s largest solar power plant goes live

The United Arab Emirates takes its first big step in diversifying its energy supply today with the opening of the Sham 1 solar power plant.

The Dh2.2 billion plant covering 2.5 sq km in Madinat Zayed in the Western Region is the largest renewable energy project in the Middle East.

It will generate 100 megawatts of clean and sustainable energy - enough to power 20,000 homes, and the biggest step so far towards Abu Dhabi’s goal of obtaining 7 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Shams 1 is “a signal that the UAE is in the vanguard of renewable energy in the region and the world”, said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive of Masdar, the Abu Dhabi alternative energy company that owns 60 per cent of the Shams Power Company.

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