Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park

A photo voltaic power station, also known as a solar park or  Solar farms are the large-scale application of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) installations used to generate electricity.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is one of the largest renewable energy projects in the region. With a planned total cost of Dh12 billion, the Solar Park will produce 2,600 MW of electricity when completed in 2030, after increasing the percentage of renewable energy in Dubai’s energy mix.

Sheikh Mohammed launched the 13 MW first phase of the Solar Park on October 22, 2013. The project is run and managed by the Dewa. On the same day, phase two to produce 100 MW was announced.

The consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Acwa and Spain’s TSK was selected as a preferred bidder with the lowest price. The project, will reduce carbon emissions by 250,000 tonnes a year.

Harvesting solar power

Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030 had initially set the percentage of renewable energy in Dubai’s energy mix to be one per cent by 2020 and five per cent by 2030.

But, as always, the DEWA derives its vision from Dubai and is inspired by the strategy of its leadership, it is on the right path to double these percentages many times.

At the World Future Energy Summit 2015 last month, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and chief executive officer of the Dewa, announced that he had increased the percentage of renewable energy in Dubai’s energy mix to seven per cent by 2020 and 15 per cent by 2030. The Dewa also announced a new project based on the independent power producer, or IPP, model to generate 500 MW using photovoltaic panels in 2016.

The solar power connected to the Dewa’s grid has two forms. The first is the Dewa’s solar power plants and the second is electricity produced from photo voltaic panels installed on rooftops of buildings and connected to the grid.