Investor Alpha Dhabi Holding, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, UAE, has signed a contract to develop a photovoltaic system with an installed capacity of 500MW in Libya, which is the first phase of its planned 2GW photovoltaic project. And Libya is currently working to get its renewable energy ambitions back on track.

Libya's state-owned Gecol Power Company earlier this month announced plans by French energy developer Total Energies to develop a 500MW photovoltaic farm in the country. And Gecol recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Alpha Dhabi Holding to build and operate PV systems with a total installed capacity of 2GW, with 500MW of PV systems to be installed in the first phase. The PV systems installed have a working life of 25 years, but no installation schedule or location was provided. Under the agreement signed, the Libyan government will purchase the electricity for these photovoltaic systems.

Alpha Dhabi Holding also operates in the construction, industrial, healthcare and hospitality sectors. Gecol currently owns and operates about 9GW of power generation facilities, including 16 oil and gas plants. Yet only 2% of its energy components are clean energy. Keywords: engineering news, overseas news

The Libyan National Congress plans to install 300MW of photovoltaic systems by 2020 and 450MW of photovoltaic systems by 2025, according to its 2013-2025 strategic plan for renewable energy and centralized photovoltaic power generation capacity. Libya has set a goal of using 22% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. However, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency estimates, by the end of 2021, the cumulative installed photovoltaic system in the country is only 6MW.Editor/XingWentao