UAE's AJ Steel Pipes plans 3MW rooftop solar project

Emerge, a joint venture between Masdar and EDF Group, plans to install a 3MWp rooftop solar PV plant for UAE steel pipe manufacturer and exporter AJ Steel Pipes.

Steel companies such as AJ Steel Pipes are looking to make their operations more sustainable by using more efficient and carbon-free solutions.

Situated on the roof of AJ Steel Pipes’s facilities in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi, the plant will offset over 2,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year and generate more than 5,000MWh of electricity annually.

The plant will consist of more than 5,000 solar PV modules and will be delivered by Emerge as a turnkey solution, including finance, design, procurement, construction, operations and maintenance of the solar modules for 25 years.

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Michel Abi Saab, Emerge general manager, said: “The development of this project will enable AJ Steel Pipes to lower energy costs and reduce its carbon footprint, while supporting the UAE’s goals to diversify its energy mix...We are extremely proud to welcome AJ Steel Pipes as a client and look forward to working with its team to support the company’s decarbonisation goals.”

M Ismail, AJ Steel Pipes executive director, said: “It is heartening to see this affirmative action towards achieving the goal of green steel. The lease business model meets with our business philosophy to not invest in non-core assets and use third party experts to get best efficiency and state of the art technology.”

The UAE Energy Strategy 2050 initiative aims to see clean energy make up 44% of the country’s energy mix by 2050.

Currently, the UAE has several solar projects under development, including:

• Shams Dubai: The initiative encourages house and building owners to install Photovoltaic (PV) panels to generate electricity, and connect them to DEWA’s grid. The electricity is used on site and the surplus is exported to DEWA’s network.
• Masdar City Solar Photovoltaic Plant: The Masdar City 10MW Solar Photovoltaic Plant was the first grid-connected renewable energy project in the UAE and the largest of its kind in the Middle East when inaugurated in 2009. The facility produces about 17,500MWh of clean electricity annually.
• Khazna Data Center Photovoltaic Plant: The plant will have an installed capacity of 7MWp and will provide electricity to the Khazna Abu Dhabi 6 (AUH 6) facility, which is currently under construction in Masdar City.
• Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi: The Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi solar rooftop PV project includes an estimated 16,000 solar modules placed across the theme park’s roof area of 36,000 square metres and will produce nearly 40% of its annual energy demand. The total installed capacity is 7MWp. The plant was inaugurated in March 2023.
• SeaWorld Solar project: The project will have a capacity of 8.2MW with rooftop solar PV systems installed at the marine-life mega development on Yas Island.

Emerge was formed in 2021 to develop distributed solar, energy storage, and hybrid solutions for commercial and industrial applications.