The EWEC has issued a Request for Proposal (RfP) to developers and consortials that have expressed interest in developing a 1.5GW solar project in the Al Khazna area of ABU Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The tender is open only to bidders who have expressed interest and passed the qualification examination in September 2023. The EWEC said 27 companies and consortiums have submitted expressions of interest, 19 of which are eligible to proceed to the RfP stage, which provides potential bidders with detailed requirements and proposed technical parameters for the project.

The Kazhna PV project will involve the development, financing, construction, operation, maintenance and ownership of the plant and associated infrastructure. The selected developer or consortium will own up to 40% of the facility, with the ABU Dhabi government indirectly holding the rest.

They will also enter into a long-term power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with EWEC. The power purchase agreement will be structured as an energy purchase agreement, and the EWEC will only pay for the net electricity provided by the plant.

Once fully operational, the Khazna project, along with the Noor Abu Dhabi project, Al Dhafra PV project and Al Ajban solar installations, will bring EWEC's total installed PV capacity to 5.5 GW. The Khazna project alone is expected to provide enough electricity to power around 160,000 homes in the UAE.

Othman Al Ali, CEO of EWEC, said: "As our fourth utility-scale solar project, the Khazna Solar PV project is a major milestone in our plan to develop new solar PV capacity between 2027-2037 and will lead the UAE's transition to a sustainable future, in line with the National Net-zero Strategy Initiative by 2050."

The response to the RfP is expected in the third quarter of this year. The EWEC said a public event would follow to confirm the companies and consortia that submitted the proposal. Editor/Xu Shengpeng