Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has commissioned the second 200 megawatt (MW) unit of the parabolic trough complex in the 4th phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The first parabolic trough unit and the Tower CSP project are already complete.
700 MW of CSP
The 4th phase of the Solar Park uses three hybrid technologies to produce clean energy: 600 MW from a parabolic trough complex (three units of 200 MW each), 100 MW from the world’s tallest solar power tower at 262.44 metres (based on Molten Salt technology), as well as 250 MW from photovoltaic solar panels, for a combined 950 MW of solar technologies.
The construction of the first unit of the fourth phase project of 100 MW capacity from the solar tower, the first unit of 200 MW from the parabolic basin complex and 217 MW from photovoltaic solar panels are 100 per cent complete. With the second unit of 200 MW from the 600 MW parabolic basin complex, now also complete, all that remains is the third unit of 200 MW of parabolic trough and 33MW from photovoltaic solar panels, which are also nearing completion.
So far, 717 MW have been commissioned from this phase, which will have the largest thermal storage capacity in the world of 15 hours, allowing for solar energy availability round the clock. The 4th phase included the installation of more than 790,000 photovoltaic solar panels and more than 63,600 parabolic trough collectors (PT). The project integrates 70,000 mirrors (heliostats) that track the sun’s movement.
The 950MW fourth phase is the largest single-site project in the world, combining Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and photovoltaic technologies.
Finance and procurement model for the 700 MW CSP
DEWA and the ACWA Power-led consortium, established Noor Energy 1 as a project company to design, build, and operate the fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. DEWA holds a 51 per cent stake in the company, ACWA Power holds 25 per cent, and the Chinese Silk Road Fund owns 24 per cent.
This phase uses the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model with investments of up to Dh15.78 billion. It is set to provide clean energy for some 320,000 residences and reduce carbon emissions by 1.6 million tonnes per year. This is the largest single-site solar park in the world, with a planned total capacity of 5,000MW by 2030.
Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of DEWA, said: “The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park’s projects constitute one of the key pillars of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 to provide 100 per cent of the energy production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050. Commissioning the 200MW second unit of the parabolic basin complex in the fourth phase increased the solar park’s production capacity to 2,627MW, and DEWA’s total production capacity to 15,117MW.”
DEWA is implementing other energy storage projects, including the 250MW pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant in Hatta, with a storage capacity of 1,500 megawatt hours, and the Green Hydrogen project that produces and stores hydrogen using solar energy, added Al Tayer.
