Masdar announces USD 6 bn mega solar and battery project: State-owned renewables giant Masdar is planning a USD 6 bn solar and battery energy facility, combining 5.2 GW of solar capacity and 19 GWh of battery storage to provide 1GW of uninterrupted clean power, Masdar announced yesterday. The project is expected to be the one of the largest of its kind once operational in 2027, Bloomberg reports.

Project details: The facility, being set up alongside Emirates Water and Electricity Co, will span 90 sq km in the Abu Dhabi desert and will power over 500k homes once online. It will also help cut 5.7 mn tons of CO2 emissions a year and provide 10k new jobs.

Why it matters: The project tackles renewable energy’s intermittency challenge, delivering consistent power supply. “This will, for the first time ever, transform renewable energy into baseload energy,” Reuters cites Masdar Chairman Sultan Al Jaber as saying.

Addressing future demand: Al Jaber emphasized the urgency of expanding clean energy to meet surging global power demand, and predicted an increase of 250% by 2050 due to energy-intensive applications like AI-powered tools.

Global benchmarks: With 19 GWh of storage, the facility could surpass Nevada’s Gemini project, currently the largest solar-battery project in the world.

What’s next: The facility will be financed through a mix of debt and equity.

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