Masdar's round-the-clock solar project aims to revolutionise renewable energy reliability

Just outside Abu Dhabi, a vast desert landscape is in the midst of transforming into one of the most ambitious experiments aimed at making solar power available around the clock. The so-called Round‑The‑Clock (RTC) project, developed by the Emirati renewable energy company Masdar, combines a 5.2 GW solar photovoltaic array with 19 GWh of battery storage supplied by Chinese firm CATL. Masdar claims that this setup is designed to ensure a steady 1 GW output every single hour of the day, every day of the year. It’s a way to tackle the common issue of solar intermittency, making renewables more reliable at a utility scale.

“This was the whole idea behind the RTC,” explained Dr. Ibraheem Almansouri, Masdar’s director of engineering, at the International Renewable Energy Agency assembly back in January. He added, “How can we make sure we provide baseload power, so, constant power supply, day and night, throughout the year, for the entire lifespan of the project?” According to Masdar, the design is intentionally quite conservative: that 1 GW of continuous output is supported by an over‑sized solar installation and a sizeable battery buffer, built to handle rare weather events like storms or dust in the desert climate of the UAE.

The company has pitched this project as a potential model that could be replicated worldwide. For example, in January 2026, Masdar signed an agreement to explore a similar 1 GW clean energy project in Uzbekistan. Just the year before, in May 2025, they signed a similar deal with Kazakhstan. The company also estimates that the RTC will generate over 10,000 new jobs and significantly boost the UAE’s push into clean energy, according to local media reports.

However, the news about how the project is progressing, well, it’s been a bit mixed. A recent feature in Batteries News suggested that the RTC might become operational next year. Conversely, Gulf News reported that the UAE had already launched its first full-scale round-the-clock solar plant in Abu Dhabi, implying the project is already up and running. These different accounts show how quickly technology is advancing and how statements about progress can be interpreted differently as projects move from construction, into testing, and finally to full commercial operation.

The push for such ambitious projects is driven largely by technological advances and dropping costs. Industry data reveals that the deployment of grid-scale batteries has surged significantly. In 2024, global additions of battery storage reached roughly 180 GWh, almost double the capacity added in 2023, according to reports cited by industry sources. Improvements in cycle life and efficiency, along with falling capital costs, have helped bridge the gap between variable solar generation and reliable, dispatchable power. Now, batteries are able to deliver what traders call “dispatchable solar”, power that can be turned on or off at will, at competitive prices. One industry estimate puts the cost of such stored solar energy at around $76 per megawatt-hour outside the US and China.

The choice of CATL as the supplier of storage systems for Masdar’s project underlines the expanding role of Chinese battery manufacturers globally. A report from World Energy states that CATL will supply the 19 GWh battery system for the RTC; this scale really marks a significant leap in the size of a single-site battery plant.

The importance of storage is especially clear in markets that have already integrated high shares of wind and solar, like Chile. Chile’s rapid renewable expansion provides a good example of the challenges associated with variable generation. Different reports paint slightly different pictures of how big the problem is. Batteries News cited a figure of about 19% curtailment of solar and wind in 2024, caused by the grid’s inability to absorb the peak output. On the other hand, PV Magazine summarized that roughly 6.6% of Chile’s total electricity was curtailed that year, and since 2022, the overall cumulative curtailment was estimated at around 11,900 GWh, resulting in losses nearing $562 million, according to Ember’s analysis. Monitoring groups also tracked that in 2025, the curtailed volume (by August) reached around 3.2 TWh, as approval rates for new renewable projects kept outpacing the upgrades needed for the grid itself and rising demand.

Chile’s experience underlines a fundamental lesson: deploying renewable energy at a large scale without simultaneously investing in transmission infrastructure, storage, and market reforms can result in wasted energy and shrinking revenues for developers. The country’s renewable industry body, ACERA, reports that Chile already has several gigawatts of storage either operational, under construction, or in development, with a large pipeline of new projects on the horizon. Still, the data clearly demonstrates that simply adding batteries isn’t enough. Proper grid planning and demand-side solutions are equally vital.

For the UAE and Masdar, the RTC model aims to combine the physical flexibility of big battery banks with abundant solar resources and a carefully designed project plan. If they succeed, it could provide policymakers and utilities with a proven template for delivering reliable renewable power without the need for fossil fuel backups. Experts note that the sheer scale of battery capacity, from a multi-gigawatt PV array paired with tens of gigawatt-hours of storage, fundamentally alters how dispatch works compared to smaller, less flexible installations.

That said, there are still hurdles to overcome. Large batteries introduce new challenges related to grid integration, safety, recycling, and supply chain issues. The fact that the project relies heavily on Chinese suppliers raises geopolitical and sourcing questions, especially for markets in the Gulf, Europe, and Central Asia, where strategies must carefully balance cost, domestic industrial policies, and access to critical raw materials. On top of that, market structures will need reform to properly value capacity, flexibility, and long-duration storage, things that are vital to truly making dispatchable renewables work at scale.

Masdar insists these obstacles are manageable and that the economic case for dispatchable renewables is tipping in their favor. The company’s international agreements suggest they see demand for this model spreading beyond the UAE. The rise of storage projects worldwide, along with policies that incentivize stable, low-carbon power generation, means that the race to deliver 24/7 solar at a utility scale is heating up.

Whether the RTC project becomes a global standard, well, that’s still to be seen. It will hinge on technology development, market reform, and investments in grid infrastructure. For now, though, this bold effort to turn the sun’s daily bounty into a steady, reliable energy source is prompting utilities, regulators, and developers to rethink how renewables can eventually replace thermal baseload power across different kinds of energy systems.