HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) visited the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park to review the progress on its 700-megawatt (MW) fourth phase, the largest investment in a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project in the world. The solar park is one of the most important projects supporting the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 with a total capacity of 5,000 MW by 2030 and investments worth AED 50 billion. Through its projects, the park will contribute to accelerating Dubai’s shift towards solar energy.
During the visit, Al Tayer was accompanied by Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence at DEWA; Dr Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources at DEWA; Jamal Shaheen Al Hammadi, Vice President of Clean Energy & Diversification at DEWA; and a number of DEWA officials.
Al Tayer was briefed on the progress by Abdul Hamid Al Muhaidib, Executive Managing Director of Noor Energy 1, which was launched in a partnership between DEWA, Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power and China’s Silk Road Fund. Al Tayer emphasised the need to adhere to the highest standards of health, safety, and quality in the project, as well as executing it according to schedule.
This phase is the largest investment project in the world using CSP on a single site, and is based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model, generating 700MW of clean energy. The project will have the world’s tallest solar tower, at 260 metres, and the largest thermal energy storage capacity in the world of 15 hours, which allows for energy generation round the clock. The project will provide clean energy to over 270,000 residences in Dubai, reducing 1.4 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year. The project will use two technologies for the production of clean energy: a 600MW parabolic basin complex and a 100MW solar tower, over a total area of 43 square kilometres. This project, which features an investment of AED14.2 billion, has achieved the lowest Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of USD 7.3 cents per kilowatt hour (kW/h).
The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is the largest single-site solar park in the world, based on the IPP model. It will generate 5,000MW by 2030. The 13MW photovoltaic first phase became operational in 2013. The 200MW photovoltaic second phase of the solar park was launched in March 2017. The 800MW photovoltaic third phase will be operational by 2020, and the first stage of the 700MW CSP fourth phase will be commissioned in Q4 of 2020.