Seobu Power Wins UAE Solar Power Plant Project... Equivalent to 'One Nuclear Reactor' Capacity

'UAE Ajban 1500MW Solar Power' Selected as Preferred Negotiation Partner
Cumulative Sales Forecast Approximately 3 Trillion Won

Korea Western Power has secured the UAE's large-scale solar power project for the first time in Korea.

On the 14th, Western Power announced that the Western Power·EDF-R consortium was selected as the preferred negotiator for the 'UAE Azban 1500MW Solar Power Project' ordered by the UAE Electricity and Water Authority (EWEC). The Western Power board approved the investment related to this project last month.

This project is a mega renewable energy power plant construction project that will build a 1500MW solar power plant on a site about 70 km east of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, with an investment of over 1 trillion KRW. It is the largest single solar power project won by a Korean company in terms of both capacity and project cost, equivalent to the scale of one nuclear power plant.

Location of the planned site for the 'UAE Azban 1500MW Solar Power Project'

The power plant area (20 million square meters) is equivalent to 2,850 soccer fields or the size of Bundang New Town. The expected average annual power generation is about 4,500 GWh. This amount of power generation is equivalent to the annual household electricity consumption of Incheon City (based on 2022).

Construction will begin in June next year and be completed by July 2026. Upon completion, it is expected to be the seventh largest solar power plant in the world. EWEC guarantees the purchase of electricity produced over the next 30 years, with cumulative sales expected to reach about 3 trillion KRW.

Western Power will utilize Equity Bridge Loan (EBL) to minimize financial burden. EBL is a financial technique that lends capital to be invested in the project based on the creditworthiness of the project participants (shareholders). During the loan period, only interest is paid, freeing the company from the burden of paying a large capital amount upfront, and at maturity, accumulated dividends and lender success fees can be used as repayment funds.

A Western Power official explained, "During the bidding process, we negotiated with the EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) company to ensure the use of Korean-made equipment worth over 30 million USD," adding, "This was the result of actively promoting the competitiveness of domestic high-voltage cables, transformers, and power control technology companies."

Since entering the Middle East renewable energy market in 2019, Western Power has been achieving successive successes. In March last year, in cooperation with EDF-R, a renewable energy subsidiary of the French state-owned power company EDF, Western Power won the 'Oman Mana 500MW Solar Power Project' worth about 600 billion KRW.

Also, based on the Oman Mana project win, Western Power and EDF-R signed a memorandum of understanding in the same month to establish a long-term partnership for the strategic joint development of renewable and hydrogen projects in the Middle East and North Africa. This close cooperation between the two companies is cited as a key factor behind their success in the UAE Azban project.

Solar power is also a strategic cooperation area emphasized by President Yoon Suk-yeol during his visit to the UAE last year. Supported by the Presidential Office, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Western Power succeeded in winning large-scale renewable energy projects and is pushing to realize a 'second Middle East boom.' To continue this momentum, Western Power is considering participating in large-scale bidding projects in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Kuwait. Having secured projects with a total capacity of 2000MW in the Middle East alone, the company plans to expand the scale by linking these carbon-free power sources to green ammonia and hydrogen production projects.

Park Hyung-deok, CEO of Western Power, said, "Winning the UAE Azban solar project is a case where Western Power has been recognized as a global energy company," adding, "We will expand eco-friendly energy sources such as solar power and green hydrogen in the Middle East to contribute to energy transition and the spread of carbon-free energy."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.