Meet the World’s Largest Single-Site Solar Power Plant
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Abu Dhabi is currently hosting the world’s largest single-site solar power plant.
The Al Dhafra solar farm is a 2-gigawatt facility that was inaugurated on November 17th. The plant contains almost 4 million bi-facial solar panels and is able to power nearly 200,000 households.
According to Interesting Engineering, the Al Dhafra solar park was built in a single phase and covers more than 20 square km of desert. The facility hosts solar panels that use the most advanced crystalline, bifacial solar technology, which allows it to deliver more efficient power by absorbing solar irradiation from both the front and rear of the panel. This large-scale plant is expected to cut Abu Dhabi’s Abu CO2 emissions by more than 2.4 million metric tons per year, which is equivalent to removing approximately 470,000 cars from the road.
The UAE is currently a prominent force in the field of solar energy and is ranked second globally in per capita solar energy usage. This initiative, which leverages the country’s potential in renewable energy sources, emphasizes the UAE’s role in driving global growth and aligning with the leadership’s commitment to promoting clean technologies and renewable energy solutions on a large scale.
Awaidha Murshed Al Marar, Chairman of the Department of Energy in Abu Dhabi, has stated: “This further strengthens the national efforts aimed at producing photovoltaic solar energy at a competitive cost, providing substantial support for Abu Dhabi’s commitment to diversify clean and renewable energy sources, as well as the strategies and policies of the Department of Energy in this regard.”
As part of the transition to renewable sources for generating electricity, EWEC (Emirates Water and Electricity Company) has recently commissioned the development of two additional solar power projects of the same scale, and plans to commission the development of an additional 1GW of new solar power energy projects in Abu Dhabi every year for the next ten years as part of its strategic plan to rapidly accelerate energy decarbonization, ensuring the UAE is a global leader in solar power.
