UAE’s nuclear energy plant connected to electricity grid

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) announced that its operations and maintenance subsidiary, Nawah Energy Company (Nawah), in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Transmission and Despatch Company (TRANSCO), a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), has safely and successfully connected Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant to the UAE electricity grid.

During the process, the generator in Unit 1 was integrated and synchronised with the requirements of the UAE’s national electricity transmission grid.

Unit 1 connection marks the first time that clean electricity produced at the plant is delivered to the UAE national grid. This follows the safe and successful start-up of Unit 1 at the end of July 2020 by Nawah. Since then, the operations team have run a series of tests, steadily increasing the power levels to ultimately generate the first megawatts of baseload electricity produced by the Barakah plant, located in the Al Dhafrah Region of Abu Dhabi.

With clean electricity from peaceful nuclear energy now being delivered to homes and business across the UAE, this milestone is a significant moment in the continued safe, secure, and quality-led delivery of the UAE Peaceful Nuclear Energy Program and its cornerstone, the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant.

“The safe and successful connection of Unit 1 to the UAE grid marks the key moment when we begin to deliver on our mission to power the growth of the Nation by supplying clean electricity, around the clock. Grid connection of Unit 1 really is the beginning of a new era in our project. This project, in addition to the UAE’s efforts made in implementing other forms of clean power generation, delivers one of the most ambitious clean electricity transformations in the region and the world, setting the Nation on a new track of sustainable development and electrification.” said H.E. Mohamed Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Chief Executive Officer of ENEC.

TRANSCO’s role in this effort is both critical and extensive, having constructed 952 kilometers of 400 kV overhead lines to connect the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant Unit 1 to the Abu Dhabi electricity grid – ensuring the power generated at Barakah is safely, securely and reliably delivered to consumers across the UAE.

Dr. Afif Saif Al Yafei, chief executive officer of TRANSCO, said: “TRANSCO plays an important role in facilitating a more sustainable energy future for the UAE. As the country forges ahead with utility-scale clean energy projects, TRANSCO continues to ensure these projects can effectively integrate with our existing network infrastructure to provide a secure and stable supply of power to the community. The integration of Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant is an important step towards increasing clean energy generation capacity to the grid.

With the integration and connection complete, Unit 1’s nuclear operators will begin the process of gradually raising the power levels, known as Power Ascension Testing (PAT). Throughout this process, the Unit 1 systems follow international best practice to safely progress and test the unit as it proceeds towards full electricity production.

ENEC recently announced the construction completion of Unit 2, with operational readiness preparations now underway by Nawah. Construction of Units 3 and 4 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant are in their final stages, with Unit 3 being at 93 per cent completion, Unit 4 at 86 per cent completion, and the overall construction completion of the four units now standing at 94 per cent.