DEWA increases production capacity in fifth phase of MBR Al Maktoum Solar Park to 330MW
Increase is due to the use of the latest solar photovoltaid
Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), has announced that the production capacity of the first project of the fifth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park has increased from 300 megawatts (MW) to 330 MW.
In a statement, the DEWA CEO said that the increase was due to using the latest solar photovoltaic bifacial technologies with Single Axis Tracking to increase energy production. The 900MW fifth phase, with investments of USD$560.3 million, is 60% complete with 4,225 million safe working hours without injuries.
“At DEWA, we work in line with the vision and directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to promote sustainability and innovation and transform into a sustainable green economy, by increasing the share of clean and renewable energy. This achieves the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy to provide 100 percent of Dubai’s total power capacity from clean energy sources by 2050,” said Al Tayer.
“The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world, is our biggest project to achieve this vision. It has a planned capacity of 5,000MW by 2030. The clean energy share is currently 11.38 percent of Dubai’s energy mix, and it will reach 13.3 percent in Q1 of 2022. The current capacity at the Solar Park is 1527MW using solar photovoltaic panels. DEWA is implementing more projects with a total capacity of 1,333MW using solar photovoltaic and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) in addition to future phases to reach 5,000MW by 2030.”
“Since its launch, the solar park’s projects have received considerable interest from global developers, which reflects the confidence of investors from around the world in DEWA’s major projects in collaboration with the private sector using the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model. Through this model, DEWA has attracted around AED 40 billion of investments and received the lowest global solar energy prices five consecutive times, making Dubai a global benchmark for solar energy prices,” he added.
Waleed Bin Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence at DEWA, highlighted in the statement that work on the fifth phase of the Solar Park is going as per the targeted timeline. The second project is now 57 % complete, he pointed out.
Furthermore, Salman noted that the fifth phase will provide clean energy for more than 270,000 residences in Dubai and will reduce 1.18 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually. It will become operational in stages until 2023, he concluded.
