Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company Masdar has marked three years of operations of the Shams 1 Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant.

Shams 1, which occupies 2.5 sq km and has a power generating capacity of 100 megawatts (MW), is the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. The project is majority-owned by Masdar in partnership with French oil and gas company, Total.

Abdulaziz Alobaidli, general manager of Shams Power Company, said: "After three years of successful operation the Shams 1 plant is playing a key role in the UAE’s quest to diversify its economy and increase the share of renewables.The plant offers tangible evidence of Masdar’s commitment to advance sustainability and minimise environmental impacts through the use of clean energy. As a thriving CSP operation, Shams 1 will continue to provide a technologically advanced template for the effective use of solar power."

The plant is based on concentrated solar power, which differs from solar photovoltaic technology in that it generates electricity from the heat of the sun rather than sunlight.

Masdar has led the way in refining CSP technology at Shams 1, employing parabolic trough systems incorporating mirrors to concentrate the heat from direct solar irradiation on to a central tube.

The heat gathered in the tube is used to heat water into steam, which is then used to drive a conventional turbine that can generate electricity.

Shams 1, which was the largest CSP plant in the world when it was inaugurated, has exported 216 GWh of clean electrical energy to the national grid last year, enough to provide 20,000 homes in the UAE with their total annual electricity consumption.