Worlds biggest solar and battery project reaches financial close
Masdar and Emirates Water and Electricity Company, known as EWEC, reached financial close on the worlds biggest solar and battery project, a plant EWEC describes as the largest and most technologically advanced system of its kind in the world, pairing 5.2 gigawatts of solar power with 19 gigawatt hours of battery storage in Abu Dhabi. A gigawatt equals 1 billion watts, and a gigawatt hour measures how much electricity a battery can store and release. Financial close is the point at which every dollar of financing a project needs has been legally signed, not just estimated. EWEC states the combined plant is built to supply 1 gigawatt of continuous power 24 hours a day, drawing on stored solar power after dark instead of switching to a fossil fuel plant. Masdar reached financial close on July 13, 2026, about 9 months after construction began at an October 24, 2025 groundbreaking, and expects the project running in 2027. EWEC states the project will create more than 10,000 jobs and avoid about 5.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year once it is operating.
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.
Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, chief executive officer of Masdar. Source 2.
How the 6.1 billion dollars is structured
Total capital investment reached 6.1 billion dollars at financial close, Masdar states, built from 1 billion dollars of Masdar own equity plus a 5.1 billion dollar financing package signed by a consortium of 13 banks, including First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank. GreentechLead, reporting independently of both companies, confirms the same 6.1 billion dollar total split the same way.
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| Masdar equity | 1 |
| Bank financing | 5.1 |
| Total investment | 6.1 |
Masdar total clean energy portfolio already exceeds 65 gigawatts, Masdar states, on its way to a 100 gigawatt target by 2030, a scale this single 6.1 billion dollar project adds to rather than stands apart from.
Who is supplying the 19 gigawatt hours of batteries
GreentechLead reports which manufacturers are supplying the battery system, a detail neither company release states. BYD is supplying 11.275 gigawatt hours of batteries and Sungrow is supplying 7.5 gigawatt hours, together covering nearly all of the project own 19 gigawatt hour storage requirement.
BYD and Sungrow together cover nearly the entire 19 gigawatt hour requirement, GreentechLead does not account for the remainder.
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| BYD battery supply | 11.275 |
| Sungrow battery supply | 7.5 |
| Total project storage capacity | 19 |
What this adds to the United Arab Emirates own solar fleet
The International Renewable Energy Agency counts United Arab Emirates total installed electricity capacity, every power plant in the country combined, at 48 gigawatts in 2024, up from 44 gigawatts in 2023, with renewable sources making up about 14% of that total. Solar accounts for 95% of that renewable capacity, wind 4% and bioenergy 1%, the agency states. Applying that 14% share and that 95% solar share to the agency own 48 gigawatt total, a calculation done for this article rather than one the agency states directly, puts existing national solar capacity at roughly 6.4 gigawatts. This project alone adds 5.2 gigawatts of new solar, equal to roughly 80% of the entire existing national solar fleet.
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| Solar share of national renewable capacity | 95 |
| Wind share of national renewable capacity | 4 |
| Bioenergy share of national renewable capacity | 1 |