Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has selected a Masdar-led consortium as its preferred bidder for the next phase of the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.
The Abu Dhabi-based company will develop the 800MW project along with Spain’s Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV), a fully owned unit of Saudi Arabia Abdul Latif Jamal, and Gransolar, a Spanish company specialising in constructing solar power projects.
The consoritum beat off competition from four other bidders to win the deal to develop the power plant at a cost of just $2.99 cents per kWh. This new world record low price for solar photovoltaic (PV) demonstrates just how fast the cost of solar power continues to fall.
Saudi-based ACWA Power is currently building the 200MW second phase of Dubai’s solar park which will be developed incrementally to a capacity of 5,000MW by 2030. ACWA and partner TSK won the project in January 2015 with a bid of $5.84 per kWh, a world record at the time.
Solar Power projects in Dubai are being developed more cheaply than anywhere else in the world due to a combination of factors including ideal solar conditions, low construction costs and access to cheap finance.
Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the various parties at the Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi.
UAE Minister of State and Chairman of Masdar, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company HE Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, said: “Masdar is proud to have been chosen to develop the third phase of the largest single-site solar park in the world.
“The significant scale and competitive cost of this project are a clear signal that solar energy is a reliable and commercially viable technology.”