The Noor Abu Dhabi is the world's largest single-site

solar power plant A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building- ...

as of November 2022, located near

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

Sweihan Sweihan, also spelled Swaihan or Suwayḩān ( ar, سُـوَيْـحَـان), is a town in the region of Al-Ain, northwest of the city of Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. It is noted for its surrounding farms. T ...

Description

Noor Abu Dhabi has 3.2 million solar panels. Noor is the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

word for "light". The generating capacity is 1.177 GW; the total project cost is US$870 million. The plant provides power for 90,000 individuals in Abu Dhabi. It uses a waterless robotic technology to clean the

solar panel A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...

s. The robots travel a distance of 1600 kilometres every day to clean it. The plant is operated by Sweihan PV Power Company which comes under the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA). It is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi Government and a

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

of China's Jinko Solar Holding and Japan's

Marubeni Corp (, OSE: 8002, NSE: 8002) is a ''sōgō shōsha'' (general trading company) headquartered in Nihonbashi, Chuo, Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the largest ''sogo shosha'' and has leading market shares in cereal and paper pulp trading as well as a ...

. The plant was commissioned by India-base
solar epc
contractor Sterling and Wilson Solar. The plant produced a total of 2000 GWh at an efficiency rate of 93%, giving electricity to 66000 houses in September 2020.

History

The commercial operations of the plant started on April 30, 2019.

Achievements and awards

The plant attracted the world's most competitive tariff bid in 2016, at 8.888 fils/kWh. It was awarded Utility Project of the Year at the 2020 Middle East Solar Awards and the Power Generation Project of the Year at the

MEED MEED, formerly ''Middle East Economic Digest'', is a media publishing company founded in 1957 focused on economic and business news related to the Middle East. MEED also provides advertising and marketing services. History The first issue o ...

Projects Awards 2020.

References

External links

* Solar power stations in the United Arab Emirates {{Renewable-power-plant-stub