Dubai: Giant Solar Park’s Third Phase to go Live in April

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On Saturday, it was announced that, the largest solar park in the world Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park which is based on the independent power producer (IPP) model, its third phase will be operational in April.

CEO and Managing Director of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, has explained the construction progress during a visit to the site of the solar park which has a planned capacity of 5,000MW once all phases are operational in 2030 with investments of AED50 billion.

According to a statement, the substation will undergo pilot operational tests after the primary tests. However, the current work focuses on operational preparations to evaluate the readiness of the substation.

In partnership with a consortium led by EDF Group, through its subsidiary EDF Énergies Nouvelles and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), DEWA is building the 800MW third phase of the solar park in three stages.

713MW is the capacity of the solar power projects currently operational in the solar park, having a planned capacity of 1,013MW by April.

In May 2018, the 200MW first stage became operational and in August 2018, the 300MW second stage became operational.

At the solar park, DEWA is currently implementing four more projects with a capacity of 2,150MW which will bring the total capacity of the current five phases announced to 2,863MW.

To achieve the objectives of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and to produce 75 percent of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy, and make Dubai the city with the lowest carbon footprint in the world by 2050, DEWA intends to reach 5,000MW by 2030. And to provide clean energy to residences in Dubai, the first phase of the solar park became operational in 2013 which was of 13MW and in March 2017, the 200MW photovoltaic second phase of the solar park. In November, it was announced that a consortium led by ACWA Power and Gulf Investment Corporation had been named as the preferred bidder to build and operate the 900MW fifth phase of the solar park.