One of the world’s biggest solar parks in Dubai has hired Azelio AB to turn desert heat into electricity after sundown.
Azelio’s technology is being used on Phase 4, a project jointly owned by Dubai Electricity & Water Authority, Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power and Chinese state-owned Silk Road Fund.
The Swedish company will provide energy storage facilities, according to a Bloomberg report.
It will be the first commercial unit using solar power generated from the 950-megawatt project to melt and store energy in a block of recycled aluminum at 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 Fahrenheit) during the day.
A Stirling engine, using the compression and expansion cycles of gas to convert heat into mechanical movement, will then use the stored heat to generate electricity.
“Our long-duration energy storage can make solar power available around the clock in an affordable way,” Bloomberg quoted Azelio’s CEO Jonas Eklind as saying. However, the Swedish firm did not disclose the size of the unit or the value of the order.
ALEC Energy, the contractor working on the concentrated solar power plant, placed the order for setting up energy storage facilities about 30 km outside of Dubai city.
As per the details, the solar park has a planned production capacity of 5,000 megawatts by 2030. Currently, over 1,000 megawatts are in operation. Meanwhile, the Swedish firm’s technology will be used for Phase 4 of the project which is jointly owned by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power and Chinese state-owned Silk Road Fund.
