The latest regulations on energy storage for photovoltaic power plants in Yemen

Masdar has signed a joint cooperation agreement with Yemen's Ministry of Electricity and Energy to build a 120 MW solar plant in Aden. It will be the country's first large-scale renewable energy project. Image: IFC, Al Kuraimi. Masdar, an Abu Dhabi-based renewables developer, is set to build a 120 MW solar plant in Yemen.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Yemen's cumulative renewable capacity was 253 MW at the end of 2021, all from solar. Reports from local NGOs and the Ministry of Electricity and Energy put the country's total installed solar capacity between 300 MW and 400 MW in 2018.

The deal includes the construction of transmission lines and transformer stations. The solar project will be built in Aden. The 120 MW plant will be the “first and the largest strategic project to generate electricity through clean and renewable energy” in Yemen, according to the Yemeni Energy Minister Manea bin Yameen.

The migration to solar power is part of what researchers say is an energy revolution in the country of 28 million, where the electric grid has been decimated by fighting. More than 50 percent of Yemeni households rely on the sun as their main source of energy, and solar arrays power everything from shops to schools to hospitals.

“For many in Yemen, especially for farmers, solar power has been a lifeline,” says Matt Leonard, who specializes in microfinance with IFC. “The key now is to scale up its use.” Yemen has long been the poorest country in the Middle East and North Africa, but a conflict that broke out in 2014 has pushed the country to the brink.

Yemen has one of the highest levels of solar radiation in the world, increased solar irradiation availability throughout the year. Yemen has a long coastline and high altitudes of 3677 m above sea level, making it an ideal location for wind energy generation, with an estimated 4.1 h of full-load wind per day.