The Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) is seeking potential bidders for the development of 800MW phase III of $3.3bn Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.
Power generated from the project, which is planned to be commissioned in a phased manner starting 2018, will be sold to DEWA under a long term power purchase agreement, reported
Meanwhile, the government-owned utility has commenced construction on 400/132kV substation with four 400kV cables at the solar park, with an investment of around AED250m ($68.04m).
Planned to be commissioned by November 2016, the substation has three sections, of which the first includes a 400kV substation and 11 gas-insulated switchgears (GIS) and second section includes a 132kV substation with 21 GIS, while the third section is the control building.
The substation will connect the solar power generated from the 200MW phase II of the solar park to Dewa’s grid.
Based on the independent power producer (IPP) model, the second phase of the project will feature more than 2.36 million PV modules capable of generating electricity required to power 30,000 homes while reducing 469,650t of carbon emissions annually.
Earlier this year, DEWA selected consortium of ACWA Power and TSK to develop, construct, own and operate the phase II of the solar park
The second phase of the project is expected to commence operations in 2017 while the 13MW Phase I of the project entered service in October 2013.
Featuring 152,880 First Solar FS Series 3 Black PV modules, the project first phase was built by First Solar and is capable of generating 24 million kilowatts per hour of electricity annually.
The solar park, which covers an area of 48km² located south-east of Dubai, is planned to be completed by 2030.
Image: DEWA MD & CEO HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer. Photo: courtesy of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority.