The UAE will build the Middle East’s first landfill to solar project at Al Sajaa landfill in Sharjah.

The announcement was made at the UAE Pavilion in COP28.

A consortium of BEEAH, Masdar and Sharjah Electricity, Water and Gas Authority (SEWA) will partner to partner develop a 120 megawatt (MW) solar farm on 68 acres of landfill area, a press statement issued by BEEAH said.

The Al Sajaa landfill is expected to become redundant with Sharjah on track to becoming the first zero waste city in the Middle East, the statement said.

The emirate’s waste diversion rate has reached 90 percent thanks to an integrated waste management strategy and the operationalisation of the UAE’s first waste-to-energy plant.

The landfill will be capped according to international regulations, environmental laws, geotechnical safety standards, and rehabilitation procedures to prepare it for the solar farm project.

Project timelines and investment figures weren’t disclosed.

Earlier this week at COP28, BEEAH had announced its partnership with Chinook Hydrogen and Air Water Gas Solutions to develop the world’s first commercial-scale solid waste to green hydrogen plant.

Last year, the Emirates Waste to Energy Company, another BEEAH-Masdar joint venture, inaugurated the Sharjah Waste to Energy Facility.

Read more: Bahrain's EWA tenders landfill remediation project in preparation for a 100 MW solar farm

(Editing by Anoop Menon) (anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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