H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler's Representative in Al Dhafra Region, inaugurated the commercial operations of AED5.4 billion Mirfa Independent Water and Power Plant of the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority, ADWEA.

Sheikh Hamdan said the UAE is implementing ambitious development projects to maintain its leading role as a world centre for R&D in energy and renewable energy.

He added the plant would contribute towards the delivery of basic services in the region to become one of the most developing regions in the country.

Awaidha Murshed Al Marar, Chairman of the Department of Energy, Faris Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Chief of the General Authority for the Security of Ports, Borders and Free Zones, Abdullah Ali Musleh Al Ahbabi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority, ADWEA, Saeed Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Chairman of Mirfa International Power & Water Company (MIPCO), and a number of top ADWEA executives and senior officials, attended the ceremony..

The project, which will be located about 110km from the capital in the Dhafra Region, will have a power generation capacity of 1,600 megawatts and 238,665 cubic metres of water a day (52 million gallons of desalinated water).

The project, the emirate’s 10th facility to be built under the public-private partnership model, will involve the acquisition of certain existing water and power facilities; the development, design, engineering and construction of new power and water facilities; as well as the operation of the plant.

The French utility company ENGIE holds a 20 per cent equity interest in the AED 5.4 billion project with the remaining 80 per cent being held by ADWEA.

The project contract also covered the integration of a new 1,240 MW greenfield combined-cycle power generation plant and 30 MIGD (114,000 m3 per day) greenfield reverse osmosis desalination plant.

ADWEA said the emirate's privatisation programme has attracted nearly AED70 billion through the Independent Power Producer model.

With the operational of the Mirfa Independent Water and Power Plant, Abu Dhabi is now producing 960 million gallons of water and 16.922 megawatts.

ADWEA is currently executing Noor Abu Dhabi, the world's largest independent solar power plant to be built at a total cost of AED3.2 billion.

Located in Suwaihan, 120km south-east of Abu Dhabi, the plant will generate 1,177 megawatts from the second quarter of 2019.

It will have double the capacity of the 550-megawatt Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, the current world's largest solar power plant in California, United States.

The plant is 60 percent owned by ADWEA and the government of Abu Dhabi, and 40 percent by the international consortium.