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Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation No. 3 (Sepco3), a subsidiary of China Electric Power Construction Corporation, has signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the 1.5GW Khazna solar photovoltaic (PV) independent power project in Abu Dhabi.

The EPC agreement was signed in Beijing with France's Engie and Chinese firm Longi Green Energy Technology.

In October, a consortium of Engie and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) won the main contract to develop the Khazna solar project. 

Longi will operate as the PV technology supplier for the project.

The EPC package covers a centralised PV layout with automated cleaning systems, centralised inverters, box-type substations and horizontal single-axis tracking. 

The plant will be built near Al-Khazna in Abu Dhabi and will feature nearly 3 million solar panels. Upon completion, the facility will generate enough power to supply about 160,000 homes across the UAE.

The utility-scale project is a core element of Emirates Water & Electricity Company's (Ewec) strategy to increase solar power capacity in Abu Dhabi to 18GW by 2035. 

The developer consortium will own 40% of the project, while the remaining equity will be owned by the Abu Dhabi government.

In 2024, MEED revealed that Engie had submitted the lowest bid for a contract to develop the facility, offering a levelised cost of electricity of 5.35502 AED fils (1.459 $cents) a kilowatt-hour.

It is the French firm’s first major power generation contract in the region in two years. The company recently retained second place in MEED’s 2025 GCC Power Developer Ranking despite its total net equity in power projects falling from 8GW to 6.5GW.

In February, the company sold its stakes in key assets to Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, including Kuwait’s Al-Zour North independent water and power project, as part of its shift to renewables projects.

Financial close of the Khazna project is expected by the end of the year.

The development supports Abu Dhabi’s plans to meet 60% of total power demand from renewable and clean sources by 2035, in line with the Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Strategic Target.

Ewec said it expects the carbon intensity of electricity generation to fall from 330 kilograms per megawatt hour (kg/MWh) of carbon dioxide in 2019 to 150 kg/MWh by 2030.

READ THE NOVEMBER 2025 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

Mena players up the ante in global LNG production race; Investment takes UAE non-oil economy from strength to strength; Project finance activity draws international lenders back to market

Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the November 2025 edition of MEED Business Review includes: