Masdar has selected Sungrow as a battery storage system and solar inverter supplier for the world’s first gigawatt-scale 24/7 dispatchable renewable energy project in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Chinese solar inverter manufacturer and battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator Sungrow announced yesterday (21 May) that it has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi state-owned clean energy developer Masdar.
The project, in co-development by Masdar and the utility Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), will comprise 5.2GWdc of solar PV generation and 19GWh of BESS capacity, enabling the round-the-clock (RTC) delivery of 1GW of clean energy. Details of its location have not been disclosed, other than that it is in Abu Dhabi.
Sungrow has agreed to provide 7.5GWh of its PowerTitan 3.0 BESS solution and 2.6GW of PV inverters to the project, which is expected to go into commercial operation in 2027.
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Sungrow said that each of its 1,000 PowerTitan 3.0 units, featuring an AC block design and rack-level management, will operate on an optimised cycle of 8-hour charging and 16-hour discharging.
Based on a liquid-cooled silicon carbide power conversion system (PCS), PowerTitan 3.0 can achieve a maximum 99.3% efficiency and 90% round-trip efficiency (RTE), while it is durable in high temperatures, able to operate at up to 55°C, making it suitable for the UAE’s climate conditions, Sungrow claimed.
The 1GW RTC project was unveiled in January 2025 at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) by Masdar chairman and UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Dr Sultan Al Jaber.
CATL previously announced as preferred supplier for US$6 billion project
While it is by no means the first large-scale RTC renewable energy project in the world, it is expected to be the first to break the gigawatt barrier, so to speak.
However, when Masdar announced selected preferred suppliers and contractors for the project a few days later that month, the company said Jinko Solar and JA Solar had been selected as PV module suppliers, and CATL as energy storage system provider.
At the time, Masdar said CATL was expected to supply the full 19GWh BESS capacity for the project, based on the 6.25MWh Tener BESS solution Chinese lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery manufacturer CATL launched in mid-2024.
It is not clear whether the Sungrow deal now means the BESS supply will be split between the two Chinese technology companies, or whether other providers will be announced later.
Masdar began construction on the project last October with a groundbreaking ceremony. At the time, the project’s cost was reportedly AED232 billion (US$5.9 billion). Masdar then revealed that the project will feature a virtual power plant (VPP), grid-forming (GFM) inverters, black-start capabilities, and AI-enhanced forecasting and intelligent dispatch.
The developer and partner EWEC said the system will provide power to the AI sector, although offtakers or data centre campuses have not been named.
Sungrow recently put its grid-forming PCS through what the company called an “extreme test,” simulating 14 scenarios, including black start capability, at a 30MW test platform in Hefei, China. The company, which has seen its BESS division’s revenues outperform its legacy PV inverter business in the past few quarters, recently refiled its application to float an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX).
Masdar just signed a 2GW module purchase agreement with Jinko Solar for the RTC project, with Jinko set to supply its Tiger Neo series modules, sister site PV Tech reported earlier this month.
A couple of weeks prior to that, PV Tech reported that Masdar and EWEC had signed a framework agreement to accelerate the deployment of 30GW of solar PV and 8GW of battery storage in the UAE. The two companies have partnered on other projects besides the RTC project, including three utility-scale solar plants.
