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19 March 2024

Dubai sets a new World Record... Click to know

Dubai is the only city in the Middle East and North Africa hat has launched a clean energy strategy 2050 that sets specific targets and deadlines. (Supplied)

Published
By Parag Deulgaonkar

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has awarded a consortium led by Abu Dhabi’s Masdar to build the 800-megawatt (MW) third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR) Solar Park, setting a new world record for the cost of generating solar power.

The consortium includes Spanish companies Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) and Gransolar Group.

"The contract was awarded to the lowest bid, which is 2.99 US cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), which sets a new world record for Dubai and it breaks our own record set for phase two of the solar park,” Saeed Al Tayer, managing director and chief executive, Dewa, said on Monday.

The third phase, which will be delivered in three phases – first 300 MW followed by two phases of 200 MG each every year, with the phase becoming operational by 2020, he added.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, located in Seih Al Dahal on the Dubai-Al Ain road, is the largest single-site project to generate electricity from solar energy in the world, with a planned capacity of 5,000 megawatts by 2030 and a total investment of Dh50 billion.

The second phase’s winning bid, which was awarded to Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power and its Spanish partner TSK, was 5.84 cents per kWh.

Funding

Masdar Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Al Ramahi said the consortium was planning to raise nearly Dh2.94 billion to fund the third phase of the solar park.

“The consortium is in talks with banks including National Bank of Abu Dhabi, First Gulf Bank and Union National Bank to provide project finance,” he said, but nothing has yet been finalized.

The financial closure is expected by November/December, he added.

Dubai is the only city in the Middle East and North Africa that has launched a clean energy strategy 2050 that sets specific targets and deadlines.

"We discussed the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which shapes the energy sector in Dubai over the next three decades. The strategy aims to provide 7 per cent of Dubai’s energy from clean energy sources by 2020. This target will increase to 25 per cent by 2030, and to 75 per cent by 2050,” Al Tayer said.