The UAE’s Noor Abu Dhabi solar development was named as the Project of the Year at the 2020 edition of the MEED Projects Awards.
The world’s largest single-site solar project also bagged two other awards: Mega Project of the Year and Power Generation Project of the Year.
MEED unveiled the winners of its 10th annual MEED Projects Awards at a ceremony in Dubai, celebrating the GCC’s best projects completed in 2018 and 2019.
Noor Abu Dhabi emerged as one of the top contenders for the awards, buoyed by the integral role it is playing in helping the UAE achieve its national target of 50 per cent clean energy by 2050, of which 44 per cent is slated to come from renewable energy.
Located at Sweihan in Abu Dhabi, Noor Abu Dhabi commenced commercial operations in June 2019. The 3.2 million solar panels at the plant cover an area of 8 kilometres, producing approximately 1.2GW of power capable of meeting the energy demand of 90,000 people.
The AED3.2bn ($871m) project was developed by a joint venture of Japan’s Marubeni and China’s Jinko Solar in partnership with Abu Dhabi Power Corporation (now a part of Taqa). Mumbai-based engineering firm Sterling and Wilson carried out the EPC works on the plant.
The 2020 edition of the MEED Projects Awards received over 130 entries from leading organisations, project owners, contractors and consultants across 19 unique categories.
