Masdar acquires 50% stake in California solar project: UAE renewables giant Masdar finalized its acquisition of a 50% share in EDF Renewables North America’s 128 MW Big Beau solar plant in California, according to a statement. The plant is accompanied with a 40 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) facility. Big Beau offsets some 315k tons of CO2 equivalent, and produces enough clean energy to power some 64k homes, according to EDF.

Part of Masdar’s red, white, and blue 1.6 GW pipeline with EDF: In 2020, Masdar and EDF inked an agreement to jointly co-develop eight US-based renewables plants that would yield a total of 1.6 GW, the statement notes. Those include three wind farms in Nebraska yielding a combined 815 MW, and five solar farms — including the newly acquired Big Beau plant — generating some 690 MW of clean energy. Other than Big Beau’s BESS facility, EDF’s California PV farms are accompanied by another BESS unit with 30 MW storage capacity, according to Masdar. All of the renewables ventures Masdar is partnering with EDF on in the US are already operational.

Building on the US-UAE PACE accords to expand its foothold state-side: In January, the UAE and US agreed they would earmark USD 20 bn to fund 15 GW of new clean energy projects in the US by 2035, marking the first wave of investments under the USD 100 bn partnership to accelerate transition to clean energy (PACE) agreement announced by the two countries last November.

Beyond the US, there are other projects in the pipeline: Masdar and EDF are developing Abu Dhabi’s 2 GW Al Dhafra solar park alongside Taqa and China’s Jinko Power. The consortium installed the last of the farm’s 3.5 mn PV panels earlier this month. Over in Indonesia, the companies are joining forces with Tuas Power on solar energy projects that would collectively generate nearly 1.2 GW of renewable power.