Dubai: DEWA Adds 600-MW From 5th Phase Of Al Maktoum Solar Park

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD&CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), has said that DEWA has added 300 MW of solar PV this year from the 5th phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

The Solar Park will have a green power generation capacity of 5,000 MW by 2030. The project is the world’s largest single-site solar park employing the Independent Power Producer model. The 5th phase, which is presently being developed, will have a total capacity of 900MW through an investment of AED 2 billion. The project will be operationalised in phases until 2023.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, stated on the feat, “We strive to keep pace with demand by implementing pioneering projects to diversify sources of energy production to include various clean and renewable energy sources and technologies in Dubai and expand the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park projects.”

DEWA said in a tweet, “DEWA has added 300MW of photovoltaic solar energy in 2022 from the 5th phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. This adds to the 300MW that became operational last year from the 5th phase.”

The CEO also held that this will help achieve the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 to provide 100% of Dubai’s total power production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050.

Al Tayer mentioned that the current clean energy production from the solar park has reached 1,827MW through solar PV panels. DEWA is developing other projects at the site of 1,033-MW employing both PV and Concentrated Solar Power.

Today, the clean energy share in Dubai is 12.8% of the installed capacity. The authorities look to step-up the renewable’s share to 14% by the end of this year only.

The 4th phase of the solar park has a capacity of 950 MW employing three hybrid technologies that will provide clean and green energy for around 320,000 residences reducing about 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

As far as the 6th Phase is concerned, DEWA said that it has invited global developers to submit Expressions of Interest for the implementation of the phase which will also be based on the IPP model. The authority held that the sixth phase will be operationalised in stages beginning from the third quarter of 2025.