Wim Nigrini

Shams Power Company

Shams Power Company is the special purpose vehicle established to realize Masdar's first concentrated solar thermal power plant in Abu Dhabi. The joint venture between Masdar (51%), Abu Dhabi Retirement Pensions and Benefits Fund (29%) and Total (21%) was formed to develop, build, operate and maintain the plant which is located in Madinat Zayed, approximately 120 kilometers southwest of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The 100MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant is one of the largest CSP plants in the world and the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa. It is the first utility-scale solar plant in the Middle East. Construction began in June 2010 while the plant was inaugurated March 2013. In that time Shams was the largest CSP operated project in the world, extended over an area of 2.5 km², consisting of 768 parabolic trough collectors.