Al Dhafrah – How to Build a 2 GW Solar Project

In 2020 the 2 GW Al Dhafra Solar project was announced by the Abu Dhabi Electricity and Water Authority. A consortium led by France’s EDF and China’s Jinko Solar will build the 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi) PV plant in the Al Dhafra region, about 35km south of Abu Dhabi City, using bifacial (dual-sided) crystalline technology. It will offer the lowest solar energy tariff in the world – AED4.97 fils/kWh (US1.35 cents/kWh). It is due to be commissioned in 2022.

[pv-magazine.com] – Abu Dhabi’s 1.5 GW tender draws world record low solar bid of $0.0135/kWh
[wikipedia.org] – Solar power in the United Arab Emirates

UAE First Green Hydrogen Production Site

Siemens/DEWA project in Dubai, pretty impressive pictures. Formerly useless deserts becoming all of a sudden very interesting, from an energy perspective.

Sheikh Rashid is quoted to have said:

“My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I ride a Mercedes, my son rides a Land Rover, and my grandson is going to ride a Land Rover, but my great-grandson is going to have to ride a camel again.”

Could be too pessimistic.

[power-technology.com] – Dubai inaugurates green hydrogen plant
[siemens-energy.com] – Green Hydrogen Project: clean fuel from solar power in Dubai

UAE-Barakah Nuclear Power Plant Operational

The United Arab Emirates has made a new nuclear reactor operational, the first in the Arab world.

Cost: $24,4B (other sources claim 28B or even 32B)
Power: 4 x 1345 MW (25% UAE needs)
Location: Google Maps
Contractor: Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO)
Construction begin: 2012

[wikipedia.org] – Barakah nuclear power plant

CAES Mechanical Wind Energy Storage

Abstract:

The construction and testing of a modular, low pressure compressed air energy storage (CAES) system is presented. The low pressure assumption (5 bar max) facilitates the use of isentropic relations to describe the system behavior, and practically eliminates the need for heat removal considerations necessary in higher pressure systems to offset the temperature rise. The maximum overall system efficiency is around 97.6%, while the system physical footprint is less than 0.6 m3 (small storage room). This provides a great option for storage in remote locations that operate on wind energy to benefit from a nonconventional storage system. The overall size and capacity of the system can be changed by changing the number of active cylinders, which in this case are off-the-shelf, small pressure vessels used for fire protection. Moreover, the system operation is automated and capable of addressing both high energy and high power density applications with an infinite number of charge-discharge cycles by augmenting the capacity with the required number of storage cylinders. The system is eco-friendly and has low maintenance costs compared to chemical storage.

[researchgate.net] – Low pressure, modular compressed air energy storage (CAES) system for wind energy storage applications

United Emirates Habshan-Fujairah pipeline

[source]
The United Arab Emirates is nearing completion of a pipeline (236 miles/380 km) through the mountainous sheikdom that will allow it to reroute the bulk of its oil exports around the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, the path for a fifth of the world’s oil supply… Once it’s running at full volume, the pipeline will let the UAE get two-thirds of its peak oil production to market even if the strait is shut. That’s about 10 percent of the total 17 million barrels of oil a day that currently goes through Hormuz. The pipeline is expected ready to be used later this month. The pipeline is 4 foot wide and designed to handle 1.5/1.8 million barrels of crude a day. The pipeline was constrcuted by China National Petroleum Corp.

[foxnews]

UAE abandoning US$ in China trade

[UAE Palm Island][source]
The US dollar is fast losing out its reserve currency status with China aggressively replacing the dollar with the Yuan as a currency for bi-lateral trade. The latest is an agreement signed between the China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which will use the Yuan for oil trade.

[CommodityOnline.com]