Spain's Abengoa plans to make a bid to participate in a 500 megawatt solar power plant in Abu Dhabi before the deadline closes in October, the chief executive of the firm's Spanish thermal solar unit said.

'We will be lodging a bid for the tender next month and we're optimistic about winning this contract,' Pedro Robles said in an interview.

Abengoa, which has businesses ranging from engineering to environmental services, is already present in the Arab Emirate through its IT solutions provider Telvent.

Abengoa's solar unit has projects in other areas of the Arab world including Algeria and Morocco, where it participates in two combined solar and gas power stations.

Robles said the intensity of the sun in areas such as Arabia and North Africa has drawn solar power developers to the region.

'These areas have 40 per cent more radiation than Spain, if we could capture all the radiation which falls on just 2 per cent of the desert, we would have enough energy to power the planet,' he said.-Reuters