Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) is expected to save about $105 million on the 100 megawatt CSP plant it is constructing due to falling prices of raw materials.

In a report filed by Reuters, Olaf Goebel, a senior project manager with Masdar, said the construction of the CSP plant in Madinat Zayed, Abu Dhabi is now estimated to cost about $520-$550 million. Goebel also shared that the company, which is expected to start commercial operation of the Shams 1 CSP plant in 2011, will award the main construction contracts soon.

Last year, Masdar had asked for bids to build, own and operate a 100 MW CSP plant in Madinat Zayad. But it decided to delay the process before calling for new bids earlier this year.

The project will be the first of many CSP plants in Abu Dhabi that will feed green power into the Abu Dhabi grid.

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Olaf Goebel, and other senior representatives from Masdar, will be speaking at the CSP, CPV & Thin Film Solar Technologies Summit MENA, taking place in Abu Dhabi on June 2-3 2009. For more details please see www.newsolartoday.com/mena09 or contact sara@csptoday.com.