UAE Inaugurated World’s Largest Solar Power Plant named Shams 1

The oil-rich United Arab Emirates (UAE) on 17 March 2013 officially opened the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant.

The solar power plant opened is the 600-million dollar project which is aimed at providing electricity to 20000 homes.

The solar power station which is named Shams 1 was inaugurated in Madinat Zayed by the President of UAE and the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The solar power plant was constructed over a three-year period by an international conglomerate, with UAE’s Masdar having 60 percent stake, France’s Total having a 20 percent interest and Spain’s Abengoa which has a 20 percent stake.

The plant covers 2.5 sq. kilometers (0.96 sq. miles) and has 768 panels with the capacity to produce 100 MW of clean energy.

UAE is now producing 68 per cent of the total renewable energy produced by the members of Gulf Cooperation Council, a political and economic union of the Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf.

Use of Solar Power Project

• With this new solar project, Masdar will be producing 10 per cent of world’s renewable energy
• The construction of Shams 1, a joint venture between Masdar, a company based in Abu Dhabi and international operatives such as Total and Abengoa, started in the third quarter of 2010 and will produce 100 Megawatt of electricity.
• The solar park features long lines of parabolic mirrors spread over an area equivalent to 285 football pitches in the desert of the Western Region, some 120 kilometres southwest of Abu Dhabi.