Abu Dhabi Delivers a 24/7 Solar Breakthrough

The UAE’s giga scale project is set to solve renewables’ biggest flaw

Overview 

Solar panels produce electricity only when there’s light. And wind turbines work when the wind blows. This intermittency has been a thorn in the side of renewables to provide stable baseload power at a scale. 

That’s until Abu Dhabi launched the world’s largest giga scale renewable energy project in October, 2025—its sheer size is just one part of the tape. Combining 5.2 GW of solar panels with a 19 GWh battery system to deliver 1 GW continuous power, it’s the world’s first round-the-clock solar project of this scale. 

The technology that makes it possible 

This project is developed by Masdar, in strategic partnership with Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC). And compared to the expansive solar parks we’re already familiar with in the Gulf, this one has a catch: With 19 GWh of batteries to hold in the power, this is energy storage of a scope we’ve never seen. At the heart of this project is an incredible combination of technologies at scale: 

• AI-driven forecasting and intelligent dispatch: Advanced algorithms predict solar fluctuations and demand spikes, managing the battery automatically for uninterrupted supply. 

• Grid forming and black start capability: The system stabilises the grid on its own and even restarts it under network failure. 

• Virtual power plant operation: Operating as a coordinated network of distributed resources, it optimizes energy dispatch real-time across the site. 

An impact much larger than its scale

While massive, Abu Dhabi’s gigascale project is much beyond its scale and will likely make a significant splash in the industry. Once operational in 2027, the facility expects to generate over 10,000 jobs and establish new manufacturing facilities in the market. It is also set to avoid roughly 5.7 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. And that’s a huge climate win. 

Perhaps most crucially, the project plans to deliver electricity at a globally competitive tariff. This would hammer the nail to the fact that large-scale renewables can be both sustainable and economically viable for future digital/AI-driven technologies. 

This is potentially a blueprint for global decarbonization efforts—much beyond a national milestone for Abu Dhabi. 

A global signal 

This is Masdar’s most ambitious initiative till date and sets a bright standard for the world’s clean energy goals. By 2030, the company aims to achieve a 100GW global clean energy portfolio. 

“This world-first project, the largest and most ambitious in Masdar’s history, is a blueprint for the world, demonstrating that renewable energy can be dispatched around the clock. By overcoming the challenge of intermittency, we can provide sustainable power to meet fast-growing demand from advancements in artificial intelligence and other technologies,” says Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar.

Abu-Dhabi’s giga scale solar project is an open signal to the world:

Renewable energy can be scaled reliably and set to replace the fossil fuels that currently fill our clean energy gaps.