Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park on right track

Dubai: The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) is on the right track to achieve the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park’s capacity by 2030, an official said.

Dewa on Sunday announced the tender for the 800 megawatt third phase of the solar park just a few weeks after it announced that it had increased the share of renewable energy targets in Dubai’s energy mix to seven per cent by 2020 and 15 per cent by 2030, and doubled the capacity of phase two of the Solar Park from 100MW to 200MW.

The project, which is based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model, puts Dubai and the UAE at the forefront of the countries in the region that produces renewable and clean energy.

“After getting the lowest global cost of production of photovoltaic (PV) energy for the second phase of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, and doubling its capacity from 100 to 200 megawatts, we are pleased to announce the third project with a capacity of 800 megawatts. We are on the right track to achieve the Solar Park’s total capacity of 3,000 megawatts,” Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of Dewa, said.

“We are determined to continue building and developing a greener economy, to achieve the UAE Vision 2021 of a sustainable environment in terms of air quality, conserving water resources, more reliance on clean energy, and implementing green development,” he added.

Dewa’s efforts complement the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030 to diversify energy sources to include 71 per cent from natural gas, 15 per cent from solar energy, seven per cent from clean coal, and seven per cent from nuclear power.

Dewa manages and operates the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which is one of the largest renewable energy projects in the region.

The 13MW first phase became operational in 2013. The consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s ACWA and Spain’s TSK was selected to implement the 200MW second phase of the Solar Park, which will be operational by 2017.

Dewa said it is now accepting proposals for a project consultant for the third phase of the project from April 1 to May 3. The project’s tender is expected to be released in the third quarter of 2015.