Emirates Water and Electricity Company, the Abu Dhabi-based offtaker of water and electricity across the UAE, issued Request for Proposals (RFP) to qualified companies for the development of the 1,500 megawatts-ac (MWac) Zarraf Solar PV Independent Power Producer (IPP) project, located in Al Dhafra region of the Abu Dhabi emirate.

Zarraf Solar PV will be EWEC’s and Abu Dhabi’s fifth utility-scale solar PV project, significantly contributing to EWEC’s strategic plan to increase Abu Dhabi’s solar power capacity to at least 10 gigawatts-ac GWac by 2030, according to EWEC's press statement.

The Expression of Interest (EOI) stage was initiated in October 2024. Twenty companies and consortiums submitted EOIs, while 16 companies and consortiums qualified for the RFP stage after submitting Statements of Qualification (SOQ).

Responses to the RFP are due by the second quarter of 2025, the statement said.

The successful developer or developer consortium will own up to 40 per cent of the entity, while the remaining equity will be held indirectly by the Abu Dhabi Government.

By 2035, EWEC forecasts that at least 18GW of solar PV will be in operation, supporting the realisation of the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Strategic Target 2035 for Electricity Production in Abu Dhabi, which will see 60 per cent of the emirate’s total power demand met by renewable and clean energy sources.

(Writing by Deva Palanisamy; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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