Latest: UN chief António Guterres tours Abu Dhabi's huge solar plant by helicopter

On the eve of the United Nations Abu Dhabi Climate Meeting, set to begin on Sunday, the Emirates Water and Electricity Company announced that the 1,177 megawatt Noor Abu Dhabi solar plant has started commercial operation.

The world’s largest single solar plant, Noor Abu Dhabi, with a production capacity of nearly 1,177 MW commences commercial operation - a major milestone for the future of #sustainablenergy pic.twitter.com/HHVMyaMXYY — المكتب الإعلامي لحكومة أبوظبي (@admediaoffice) June 29, 2019

The plant will offset the emirate’s C02 emissions by 1 million metric tons, effectively taking 200,000 cars off the roads. With 3.2 million solar panels installed across an 8 square kilometre site, Noor Abu Dhabi is the world’s single largest solar project.

It will provide enough power to meet the equivalent demand of 90,000 people.

The Dh3.2 billion plant, located at Sweihan in Abu Dhabi, is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi Power Corporation and a consortium of Japan’s Marubeni Corp and China’s Jinko Solar Holding. At the time of bid submission the project attracted the world’s most competitive power tariff of 8.888 fils/kWh.

Announcing #NoorAbuDhabi completion is a testament of our leadership’s vision & a valuable addition to #UAE’s #RenewableEnergy sector. UAE leads in global #energy transformation & deployment of #sustainable solutions towards energy security & #climatechange challenges https://t.co/kdNXTeGcUA — د. ثاني الزيودي (@ThaniAlZeyoudi) June 29, 2019

Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said that the project is a "valuable addition" to the renewable energy sector.

Mohammad Hassan Al Suwaidi, Chairman of EWEC said: "The completion of the project marks a significant milestone in the UAE’s Energy Strategy 2050, launched in 2017, to increase the contribution of clean energy in the total energy mix to 50 per cent by 2050 while reducing the carbon footprint of power generation by 70 per cent. This is in line with the sector’s transformation strategy by providing alternative sources of energy that can help us improve the sustainability of the water and electricity sector."