Masdar, the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned renewable energy company, has officially opened Africa’s largest utility-scale solar power plant in Mauritania.
The 15-megawatt Sheikh Zayed Solar Power Plant will contribute 10 percent of Mauritania’s electricity needs, providing essential energy security for a nation currently relying on a power grid of just 144 megawatts of installed capacity, most of which comes from expensive and dirty diesel generators.
The Sheikh Zayed solar plant was constructed using 29,826 micromorph thin-film panels (a PV solar cell which traps both blue and red light bandwidths). The panels were installed without using concrete fixtures; Masdar engineers instead designed a support system driven into the ground.
Although only 60 percent of Mauritania’s people are connected to the national grid, energy demand is predicted to grow by 12 percent each year. The new plant will provide renewable electricity to 10,000 homes and offset 21,225 tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Work began on the AED 117.5 million (AUD 31.07 million) project in October last year and the facility is the first solar plant ever constructed in Mauritania. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Masdar CEO, said tapping sources of renewable energy in the developing world made good business sense, and was key to Masdar’s market strategy.
“This project proves that energy access and commercially viable renewable energy can go hand-in-hand,” said Dr. Al Jaber. “Partnerships are at the core of Masdar’s business strategy and projects like this one underscore the critical role collaboration plays in renewable energy development.”
Masdar is wholly-owned by the Abu Dhabi government and has a mandate to diversify the UAE’s revenues beyond fossil fuel through 2030 by maintaining a lead position in the global clean energy industry, including construction of solar and wind projects, investment and R&D.
Along with the Mauritania solar plant, Masdar’s renewable energy projects in the developing world include: a six-megawatt wind farm in the Seychelles; an off grid solar power system project for Afghanistan; and a 500-kilowatt solar PV power plant in the Kingdom of Tonga.
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