Dewa plans tender for phase 3 of solar park

Dubai doubled the capacity of the second phase of the solar park from 100MW to 200MW after receiving the lowest ever recorded cost for solar power in a tender won by Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power and Spain's TSK.

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, or Dewa, will start accepting expressions of interest for the third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park at the end of September.
In a statement on Saturday, the power utility said the tender for the project, an 800 megawatt (MW) power plant, will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2015.
"After getting the lowest global cost of production of photovoltaic (PV) energy for the second phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, and doubling its capacity from 100MW to 200MW, we are pleased to announce the third project with a capacity of 800MW. We are on the right track to achieve the solar park's total capacity of 3,000 megawatts," said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and chief executive of Dewa.
Dubai doubled the capacity of the second phase of the solar park from 100MW to 200MW after receiving the lowest ever recorded cost for solar power in a tender won by Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power and Spain's TSK. The 13MW first phase became operational in October 2013, while the 200MW second phase will be operational by 2017. The full solar park scheme will have a capacity of 3,000MW.
"We are determined to continue building and developing a greener economy, to achieve the UAE Vision 2021 to achieve a sustainable environment in terms of air quality, conserving water resources, more reliance on clean energy, and implementing green development," Al Tayer said.
Dubai's strategic plans envision seven per cent of power generation from renewables by 2020 and 15 per cent by 2030. "Our efforts also complement the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030 to diversify energy sources to include 71 per cent from natural gas, 15 per cent from solar energy, seven per cent from clean coal and seven per cent from nuclear power," Al Tayer said.
- muzaffarrizvi@khalejtimes.com

• Dubai