Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) said that it has commissioned the 200MW second unit of the parabolic basin complex in the 950MW fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR) Solar Park in the UAE.
The fourth phase of the solar park in Dubai utilises the independent power producer (IPP) model. It entails investments of up to AED15.78bn ($4.3bn).
By leveraging three hybrid technologies, the fourth phase of the MBR Solar Park will generate enough electricity to power up nearly 320,000 residences with clean energy.
The fourth phase comprises a 600MW parabolic basin complex with three units of 200MW each, a 100MW solar power tower based on molten salt technology, and 250MW photovoltaic (PV) solar panels.
According to DEWA, this phase includes the installation of over 790,000 PV solar panels and more than 63,600 parabolic trough collectors (PT).
DEWA said that the fourth phase of the MBR Solar Park is the largest single-site project in the world that brings together concentrated solar power (CSP) and PV technologies.
Furthermore, the fourth phase is estimated to reduce carbon emissions by 1.6 million tons per year.
Overall, the MBR Solar Park is planned to have a production capacity of 5GW by 2030 with investments totalling AED50bn ($13.61bn).
DEWA managing director and CEO Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer said: “The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park’s projects constitute one of the key pillars of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 to provide 100% of the energy production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050.
“Commissioning the 200MW second unit of the parabolic basin complex in the fourth phase increased the solar park’s production capacity to 2,627MW, and DEWA’s total production capacity to 15,117MW.”
DEWA has commissioned 717MW from the fourth phase of the MBR Solar Park to date.
Noor Energy 1 was established as a project company to design, build, and operate the fourth phase of the solar park by DEWA and the ACWA Power-led consortium.
DEWA, ACWA Power, and the Chinese Silk Road Fund hold 51%, 25%, and 24% stakes in the company, respectively.
DEWA revealed that the construction of the first unit of the fourth phase project of 100MW capacity from the solar tower and 217MW from PV solar panels are also fully complete.
The third unit of 200MW from the parabolic basin complex and 33MW from PV solar panels are 87.1% complete.
Last month, Masdar and DEWA signed an agreement worth up to AED5.51bn to develop and operate the 1.8GW sixth phase of the MBR Solar Park.
