Recently, there has been a significant news of cooperation in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The UAE Water and Electricity Company has officially signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Masdar, a leading local state-owned renewable energy enterprise. Both parties plan to install over 30GW of photovoltaic power in the UAE, and simultaneously build over 8GW battery energy storage systems to create a large-scale clean energy supporting system.

The project is equipped with a 19GWh energy storage system, which can stably achieve 1GW uninterrupted base load power supply. From this, it can be seen that the planned 8GW energy storage will have a storage capacity of tens of GWh, which is a very large scale. This heavyweight cooperation is not a small-scale pilot layout, but officially marks a new stage of large-scale explosion in the Middle East energy storage market.

The layout scale is unprecedentedly large

The strategic cooperation framework signed this time is full of value and is the core layout of the UAE's energy transformation. Ahmed Ali Al Shamhi, CEO of UAE Hydro, stated at the signing ceremony that the cooperation agreement with Masdar is an important strategic measure that will accelerate the country's energy transformation process and help Abu Dhabi achieve its development goal of 60% of energy coming from renewable and clean energy by 2035. Behind this statement is the clear energy development blueprint of the United Arab Emirates: to increase the proportion of clean energy to 60% by 2035 and achieve net zero emissions throughout the entire lifecycle by 2050. According to GlobalData, the installed capacity of photovoltaics in the United Arab Emirates is expected to climb from 6.7GW in 2025 to over 32GW in 2035. The 30GW photovoltaic+8GW energy storage cooperation plan finalized this time is the core support for the leapfrog growth of the country's photovoltaic industry.

Unlike conventional long-term planning, this cooperation is a substantive strategic layout that has already been officially signed and implemented. The core highlight of this cooperation lies in the full cycle deep collaboration. Masdar will be fully involved in the entire process of EWEC's new energy project, including pre development, engineering design, and financing implementation, effectively improving project construction efficiency and reducing overall development costs. Previously, Masdar and EWEC have collaborated to create multiple world-class new energy benchmark projects, including the 1.5GW Ajiban photovoltaic project and the 2GW Dafra photovoltaic power station. The RTC project currently under construction is a benchmark project in the global field of photovoltaic energy storage integration, with a total investment of over 22 billion dirhams, approximately 40.8 billion yuan. It plans to build a 5.2GW photovoltaic power station and a 19GWh energy storage system, and is expected to be officially put into operation in 2027.

Energy storage ensures stable power supply

The United Arab Emirates is fully committed to promoting the construction of ultra large solar energy storage projects, with the core demand being to break free from the time limit of photovoltaic power supply and achieve stable power supply around the clock. The core value of the RTC project is to build a day night balanced power supply system for photovoltaic power generation: daytime photovoltaic power generation prioritizes meeting current electricity demand, and surplus electricity is stored in energy storage systems; After the shutdown of photovoltaic power at night, relying on energy storage discharge to supplement the power supply gap ensures continuous and stable power output.

This is also the key reason why the United Arab Emirates is vigorously laying out large-scale energy storage supporting facilities. A single photovoltaic project cannot solve the problem of nighttime power supply. Integrated photovoltaic and energy storage is the optimal path for stable utilization of clean energy. As one of the countries with the most diverse industrial structure in the Gulf region, the UAE's industrial system has extremely high requirements for the stability and reliability of power supply. Through the deep integration of photovoltaics and large-scale energy storage, it can not only stabilize the fluctuation characteristics of photovoltaic power generation, but also provide strong power support during peak electricity consumption periods, ensuring the smooth operation of industrial production. Masdar CEO Mohammad Jamil Al Ramshi stated that this strategic cooperation will accelerate the implementation of innovative clean energy technologies and empower the high-quality development of low-carbon industries in the UAE.

Chinese enterprises seize overseas blue oceans

The comprehensive outbreak of the energy storage market in the Middle East has brought broad opportunities for domestic energy storage enterprises, and massive overseas orders continue to be released. According to industry data from the CESA Energy Storage Application Branch, in February 2026, domestic enterprises won 30 overseas energy storage orders with a total capacity of 35.71 GWh. Among them, Tianhe Energy Storage won a 12.29GWh energy storage order in the European and American markets, ranking first in the industry; Chu Neng New Energy has landed a 5.5GWh energy storage project in Saudi Arabia, deeply cultivating the Middle East new energy market.

JINKO has recently reached a cooperation agreement with Masdar, signing a 2GW high-efficiency photovoltaic module supply agreement to provide core equipment support for the RTC project in Abu Dhabi. In March 2026, PowerChina successfully won the EPC general contract for the RTC solar energy storage project in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, equivalent to approximately RMB 13.962 billion. It is responsible for the design, procurement, and construction of a 2.1GW photovoltaic and 7.75GWh energy storage system throughout the entire process.

In the Oman market, Guodian Nanrui Oman Branch won the bid for the battery compartment procurement project of the Dukum 500MW/2000MWh energy storage project, further expanding its layout in the Middle East market. It is not difficult to see that Chinese enterprises have fully entered the entire energy storage industry chain in the Middle East, from photovoltaic module supply and engineering general contracting construction, to energy storage equipment supply and full process project implementation, with multiple points blooming and rapid layout.

Overall, there are three distinct trends in domestic energy storage companies' deep cultivation of the Middle East market. Firstly, the scale of orders has significantly increased. Early overseas energy storage orders were mostly small projects of tens of MWh, but now mainstream orders have reached the GWh level. Saudi Arabia has launched six independent energy storage projects at once, with a total scale of 3000MW/12000MWh and significant scaling characteristics. Secondly, the cooperation mode continues to upgrade. Industry data shows that in 2025, domestic enterprises will add 366GWh of overseas energy storage orders, a year-on-year increase of 144%, covering more than 60 countries and regions worldwide. The landing of the EPC project of China Power Construction UAE marks the upgrade of Chinese enterprises from exporting single equipment to a deep cooperation mode of engineering general contracting and overall solution output. Thirdly, the market layout is becoming increasingly extensive. Europe, Southeast Asia, South America, the Middle East, Africa and other markets are expanding synchronously, with the Middle East becoming a new growth pole for energy storage going global. From the perspective of the planned production capacity of domestic lithium batteries going global, the proportion of planned production capacity in the Middle East and Africa region exceeds 15%, highlighting its strategic position.

The super layout of 30GW photovoltaic and 8GW energy storage demonstrates the UAE's firm determination to transform from a traditional energy country to a pioneer in clean energy. The strong alliance between EWEC and Masdar will not only reshape the energy landscape in the UAE, but also provide a high-quality model for the green transformation of energy in the Middle East and even globally. This means that the door to large-scale development of the energy storage market in the Middle East has been fully opened. In the past, energy storage projects in the Middle East were mostly small-scale demonstration projects with limited scale and slow progress. The UAE Super Project has directly increased the regional energy storage capacity to tens of GWh, bidding farewell to pilot exploration and entering the stage of large-scale implementation. At present, the United Arab Emirates is fully leading the way, Saudi Arabia is quickly following suit, and many countries such as Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait are expanding their presence. The Middle East has become a core new trend in the global energy storage industry. For domestic energy storage companies, many achievements such as JINKO component supply, China Power Construction's billion dollar EPC project, and Chu Neng New Energy's Middle East energy storage order have confirmed the enormous potential of the Middle East market. Seizing the Middle East energy storage market will enable us to gain a competitive advantage in the global energy storage industry. Keywords: UAE, energy storage, photovoltaics

In the future, the energy storage market in the Middle East will move from the tens of GWh level to a new stage of hundreds of GWh, and the industry competition pattern may be reshaped. The ultimate winners in the industry are hidden in the continuous landing of overseas orders and the construction of new photovoltaic power stations.Editor/Gong Ziwei