How Masdar is solving the “moonshot challenge” of renewables
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At this year’s Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, Masdar launched a solution to “the moonshot challenge of our time” – overcoming the intermittency barrier for renewable energy.
In partnership with the Emirates Water and Electricity Company, Masdar is developing in Abu Dhabi the world's first gigascale 24/7 solar and battery storage project, delivering up to 1 gigawatt (GW) of baseload power every day from renewable energy.
The project comes at a time when there is “an urgent need for stable clean baseload power both around the clock and around the world,” Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, says in the latest episode of our Power to Change documentary series.
Covering an area the size of Manhattan, once completed this truly innovative project will be the largest of its kind in the world, capable of avoiding 5.7 million tons of carbon emissions every year, and will meet a third of the UAE’s 2030 renewable energy targets.
Representing an investment of US$6 billion, the project will combine 5.2GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity with a 19 gigawatt-hour (GWh) battery energy storage system (BESS), setting a global benchmark in clean energy innovation.
For the first time at such scale, “clean power isn’t just available when its generated but exactly when its needed,” says Al Ramahi.
“Our goal is to replicate and expand similar projects at a global scale sharing this model with the world,” he says. “The future of energy is clean, the future of energy is constant, and most importantly the future of energy is affordable.”
