Dubai Offers 900 Megawatts Of Solar In Latest Auction

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Within days of Abu Dhabi issuing an Expression of Interest for 2 gigawatts of capacity for a new solar power park, Dubai has issued a tender for the fifth phase of its Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has issued a fresh tender calling upon developers to set up 900 megawatts of solar PV power capacity at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. DEWA issued the Request for Qualification CG/007/2019 asking project developers to submit bids by 31 March 2019. 

The Dubai solar power park has been a global leader in development of very large-scale solar power projects at record-low tariffs. The first phase of the park, with 13 megawatts of capacity was commissioned in 2013. The project was developed by First Solar.

The second phase, with 200 megawatts of capacity, was commissioned by a consortium of ACWA Power and TSK. The consortium won the project at the lowest tariff bid of that time — 5.98¢/kWh. The project was commissioned in March 2017 at a total cost of around $326 million, and generates enough power to meet the demand of 50,000 homes.

The third phase, with 800 megawatts of capacity, was awarded to a consortium led by Masdar. This phase, too, saw the lowest tariff bid of that time — 2.99¢/kWh. The first stage of this phase with 200 megawatts of capacity was commissioned in May 2018. The entire phase will be fully commissioned by next year.

The fourth phase was awarded to a consortium of ACWA Power and Shanghai Electric. The tender offered project developers 600 megawatts of capacity based on parabolic dish reflectors and 100 megawatts of capacity based on a solar tower. The project was awarded at 7.3¢/kWh — the lowest-ever for a solar thermal power project in the world. The consortium was consequently also awarded a contract to set up 250 megawatts of solar PV power capacity at 2.4¢/kWh. The first stage of this phase is expected to be commissioned by the fourth quarter of 2020.

DEWA plans to increased the total installed capacity at Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park to 5 gigawatts by 2030. DEWA has so far auctioned and allocated a total capacity of 1.95 gigawatts, which shall increase to 2.85 gigawatts after auction for the fifth phase.

In comparison, the Abu Dhabi Electricity and Water Authority (now Emirates Water and Electricity Company) has so far auctioned 1.17 gigawatts of solar PV power capacity and just issued a fresh tender for 2 gigawatts solar PV power capacity.