bu Dhabi’s Taqa and Ewec announced on 30 December that they have reached financial close on the AED3.6bn ($980mn) 1GW Al Dhafra gas-fired power plant. The open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) plant is due online in 2027, and Taqa signed a 24-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with state offtaker Ewec in April (MEES, 4 April 2025).
In a joint statement, the two firms say Al Dhafra “will provide power to data center projects and advance the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031.” They add that it will support Masdar’s 1GW ‘Round the Clock’ integrated solar and battery energy storage system (BESS), which is also intended to supply AI data centers with electricity. That project is also due online in 2027 and Masdar broke ground on it in October (MEES, 24 October 2025). (CONTINUED - 178 WORDS)