The clean, pollution-free electricity produced by Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant is now available to your home, as the plant has begun commercial services

The authorities reported on Tuesday that the first 1,400MW unit of the Barakah plant, the Arab world's first nuclear power plant, is now supplying continuous, reliable, and sustainable electricity to the UAE's households and businesses.

The Unit 1 nuclear reactor is now in commercial service, which means the reactor's testing period is over. It complies with all national and international specifications, and energy can now be distributed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the next 60 years. The only time the ship can stop is for refueling every 12 to 18 months.

Unit 1 is the UAE's biggest independent generator, producing thousands of megawatts of carbon-free electricity every day. When the plant's other three units are fully operational, 5,600MW of electricity will be generated, enough to power 574,000 UAE households.

The four units would ultimately supply power for 25% of the country's needs. The Barakah plant is a proven climate change solution, avoiding 21 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually, in equivalent of eliminating 3.2 million cars from the road.

The commercial activity is the culmination of years of effort by a global, Emirati-led team to meet the UAE's 2008 commitments to generate clean electricity. The fuel loading phase for Unit 2 was recently completed, while Units 3 and 4 are 94% and 85% complete.

The UAE has set a transparent roadmap to ensure the project is developed in compliance with the highest international industry standards of safety and efficiency, as well as complete transparency, according to Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of Enec. “Our investment in cutting-edge technology and the decarbonization of our power generation not only strengthen the UAE's renewable energy leadership, but it also has significant socio-economic and environmental benefits. We congratulate all of our partners as we continue to support our country's stability and long-term growth.”

Enec CEO Mohamed Ibrahim Al Hammadi described it as the beginning of a new phase in the UAE's shift to cleaner energy sources. He said, "The Barakah Plant uses advanced technologies to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change, which is one of the world's greatest challenges."

Enec's subsidiary, in charge of the Barakah project's financial and commercial operations, Barakah One Company, signed a power purchase agreement with the Emirates Water and Energy Company in 2016 to buy all of the plant's electricity for the next 60 years. Electricity generated by Barakah is fed into the national grid just like other energy plants.