The Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) has received bids from six international consortia to build the the Sweihan 350 MW solar PV project located 120 km away from the capital city Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The Asian consortium of Marubeni (Japan) and Jinko Solar (China) has submitted the lowest bid at US$2.42c/kWh setting a new low world record for a utility-scale PV plant after the US$2.91c/kWh bid in Chile in August 2016. It his followed by two other consortia that also submitted bids lowest than that of Chile, namely EDF and PAL at US$2.53c/kWh, and Tenaga and Phelan Energy at US$2.60c/kWh. Finally, three other consortia proposed prices of US$2.91c/kWh (RWE and 8-electric), US$3.09c/kWh (JGC, First Solar and Sojitz) and US$3.65c/kWh (Kepco, Q Cells and GSE).
As an alternative bid, Marubeni and Jinko submitted an offer to expand the Sweihan plant to 1,170 MW at a price of US$2.30c/kWh, representing another 5% discount.
The ADWEA will now evaluate the proposals to ensure thoroughness and economic viability.