UAE to Build Concentrating Solar Power Plant

UAE to build concentrating solar power plant

ABU DHABI, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) — Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will invest 400-500 million U.S. dollars to build a concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in a bid to develop alternative energy, local newspaper Khaleej Times reported on Wednesday.

With a capacity of 100 MW, the CSP plant will use parabolic trough technology and is expected to be operational by the end of 2010, according to the report.

It will be built in the town of Madinat Zayad in the western region of Abu Dhabi, and will be the first of many CSP plants to be setup in the UAE to feed electric power to the national grid, said Ziad Tassabehji, director of ADFEC’s Innovation and Investment Unit.

Bids will be invited for engineering procurement and construction (EPC) along with technology and the capital to setup the CSP plant by early March, he said.

ADFEC is mandated to develop and execute Masdar Initiative, which is launched by the government of Abu Dhabi Emirate to promote commercialization of renewable and sustainable energy technologies.

The company signed an agreement on Monday with a joint venture between BP Alternative Energy and Rio Tinto to develop an industrial- scale hydrogen-fired power generation project.

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