Yesterday, Masdar reached financial close on what it calls the “world’s first gigascale Round-the-Clock (RTC) renewable energy project.” As indicated in the title, this project involves a 5.2 gigawatt (GW) solar power installation and a 19 gigawatt-hour (GWh) battery storage installation. The project will provide 1 GW of continuous clean power supply 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Yes, it’s a big project that required a lot of investment. The investment totaled $6.1 billion. “Backed by a consortium of 13 leading international and local banks, the US$5.1 billion financing package demonstrates strong market confidence in both the project’s commercial viability and Masdar’s ability to deliver complex energy infrastructure at scale,” the UAE-based clean energy company wrote. These are the 13 funding organizations: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank BNP Paribas Bank of China Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank Dubai Islamic Bank First Abu Dhabi Bank Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) KfW IPEX-Bank Natixis Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Standard Chartered Bank Societe Generale “Representing a total capital investment of US$6.1 billion, with Masdar funding US$1 billion of equity, the RTC project is being developed in Abu Dhabi by Masdar and Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC). Integrating a 5.2GW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant with a 19 gigawatt-hour (GWh) battery energy storage system (BESS), RTC is the largest and most technologically advanced system of its kind in the world.” Clearly, this is a monumental project. The scale is incomprehensible. I’ve been at a 100 megawatt solar power project, and its size was immense. 5,200 megawatts? That’s just nuts. And then add in the 19 GWh of batteries. One thing Masdar is focusing on is not that it’s technically possible — of course it is — but that this is now bankable. “Financial close demonstrates that large-scale renewable energy projects capable of delivering round-the-clock power have evolved from technical ambition to commercially bankable infrastructure. As electricity demand accelerates, driven by AI, data centers, and advanced manufacturing, the project establishes a new benchmark for financing reliable, utility-scale clean energy projects and addresses the key challenge of intermittency.” Interesting points there, particularly the note about proving this option for powering AI data centers. How long does it take to build such a massive solar-plus-storage project. Construction on the project began in October 2025, and it is expected to be completed sometime in 2027. That seems tremendously quick for such a large project — of any type. To close, here’s a bit more about Masdar, which, full disclosure, I did some work for several years ago: “Masdar has a diversified portfolio of more than 65GW, spanning both established and high-growth renewable energy markets and covering the full spectrum of renewable technologies, including solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, battery energy storage and hybrid solutions. With a clear pathway to 100GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, Masdar continues to expand its global platform through disciplined growth across priority markets, delivering reliable, affordable clean power to meet the world’s rapidly growing electricity demand.” It’s truly impressive what the company has been doing. And, yes, the whole country has been funded by its oil industry, but at least it has the sense and foresight to do stuff like this.
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