Masdar, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala investment company, will join two European companies, Total and Abengoa Solar, in spending $600 million on a new solar plant in the desert 75 miles from the city.

With a capacity when it comes onstream in two years’ time of 100 megawatts, “Shams 1″ will make only a small dent in Abu Dhabi’s power needs, estimated at 20 gigawatts by 2020.

The brand new solar plant will sell power to the national grid, with the government subsidising the state electricity company the excess cost over the average price from the city’s oil-fired power plants.