ABU DHABI, 29th December, 2022 (WAM) -- Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) has announced that, for the first time, over 60 percent of the total power demand was delivered from renewable and clean energy sources.

The achievement was announced this month, with a generation of approximately 5.5 gigawatts (GW) of the total 8.6GW system power demand being supplied from EWEC’s solar power and nuclear energy plants.

Othman Al Ali, Chief Executive Officer of EWEC, said that this achievement is a true testament to EWEC’s strategic initiatives that prioritise carbon-free technologies in support of the UAE’s sustainable and economic objectives.

“We are proud to play a pivotal role in the country’s energy transition by growing and diversifying our world-leading utility-scale renewable energy projects. This significant milestone demonstrates the country’s wise leadership in tackling climate change through actionable plans to achieve the UAE Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative, ensuring the prosperity and sustainability of our country for generations to come,” he added.

EWEC commissioned the development of three of the world’s largest single-site solar power plants. Noor Abu Dhabi began commercial operations in 2019, generating approximately 1GW (AC) of electricity. Al Dhafra Solar PV will be the new world’s largest single-site solar power plant, with a generation capacity of roughly 1.5GW (AC) and is currently under construction. Once fully commercially operational, Al Dhafra Solar PV will reduce carbon emissions by 2.4 million metric tonnes per year, equivalent to removing approximately 470,000 cars from the road.

In May 2022, EWEC invited developers or developer consortiums to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for developing a new Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Independent Power Project to be located in the Ajban area, Abu Dhabi. Al Ajban Solar PV will be in a similar size and generation capacity to Al Dhafra Solar PV.

EWEC forecasts that its solar power projects, combined with the addition of nuclear power to the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant grid, will reduce carbon emissions to around 20 million tonnes by 2025 from more than 40 million tonnes by 2020.

The Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant is the first nuclear energy plant in the Arab world and consists of four APR1400 nuclear reactors.