Masdar making headway

Masdar, the organization in Abu Dhabi building what is touted as the world’s first carbon-free city, announced that it has formed a joint venture with France’s Total and Spain’s Abengoa Solar to build and operate the Shams 1 concentrating solar power (CSP) plant. The Shams 1 facility will be located on 2.5 square kilometers of land in Madinat Zayed, 120 miles southwest of Abu Dhabi, and will generate 100 MW of electric power from a field of 768 parabolic trough collectors supplied by Abengoa Solar. Masdar will have a 60% interest in the joint venture, while Total and Abengoa will each have a 20% interest. Construction is scheduled to begin during the third quarter of this year and take approximately two years.