Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is a

solar park A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building- ...

spread over a total area of 77 km² in

Saih Al-Dahal Saih Al-Dahal ''(Community: 971'') is a small bedouin community located 50 km south of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the location where Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park has been commissioned in 2013 by Dubai Electricity and Water ...

, about 50 kilometers south of the city of

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

. It is one of the world's largest renewable projects based on an independent power producer (IPP) model. Besides solar farms using PV technology, the long-term project will also include

concentrating solar power Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal) systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight into a receiver. Electricity is generated when ...

(CSP). The total capacity of the entire project is planned to reach 3,000 megawatts.SolarServer.co
DEWA announces 800 MW third Phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park
, 21 April 2015 The 200-megawatt second phase of the project drew global attention as the winning bid of the tender set a new record-low tariff of only US ¢5.89 per kilowatt-hour. This is about 20% lower than any previous, unsubsidized

power purchase agreement A power purchase agreement (PPA), or electricity power agreement, is a contract between two parties, one which generates electricity (the seller) and one which is looking to purchase electricity (the buyer). The PPA defines all of the commercial te ...

(PPA) the world has seen before. The PPA is set to a 25-year time frame.http://ameinfo.com
ACWA Power wins 200 megawatts (260MWp) phase II Mohammed bin Rashid Solar Park by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority
17 January 2015 The plant was implemented by the

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) () is a public service infrastructure company that was founded on 1 January 1992 by Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum. History DEWA was formed by merger of the Dubai Electricity Company and ...

(DEWA). The first phase of the project was commissioned on 22 October 2013. At the end of 2020 the solar PV complex reached a generating capacity of 1.013 GW with the aim to reach 5GW by 2030. Currently the 4th (700 MW CSP + 250 MW PV) and 5th phase (900 MW PV) are under construction. Thanks to a storage capacity of up to 15 hours, the plant can produce day and night.

History

The solar park was announced by

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum ( ar, محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم, links=no; ; born 15 July 1949) is the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, vice president, prime minister, and minister of defence of the United Arab Emir ...

in January 2012.

Phase 1

The first phase of the park was a 13 MW_p solar farm (DEWA 13) constructed by

First Solar First Solar, Inc. is an American manufacturer of solar panels, and a provider of utility-scale PV power plants and supporting services that include finance, construction, maintenance and end-of-life panel recycling. First Solar uses rigid thi ...

. It was commissioned on 22 October 2013. It uses 152,880 FS-385 black CdTe modules and generates about 28 GWh per year which corresponds to a capacity factor of 24.6%.

Phase 2

The second phase is a 200 MW_p

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...

plant built at a cost of US$320 million by a consortium led by

ACWA Power ACWA Power is a developer, investor, co-owner and operator of a portfolio of power generation and desalinated water production plants currently with presence in 10 countries including in the Middle East and North Africa, Southern Africa and Sout ...

and Spanish company TSK. The second phase was scheduled to be commissioned by April 2017. It was completed ahead of time, and commissioned on 22 March 2017. TSK served as the primary contractor for the project, while ACWA Power will operate the plant. The phase includes 2.3 million photovoltaic solar panels spread over an area of 4.5 km². ACWA Power secured a 27-year debt financing loan worth $344 million from the First Gulf Bank, the National Commercial Bank and the Samba Financial Group. The plant uses First Solar's CdTe modules. The 200 MW_p second phase of the project caused worldwide attention, as the winning bid of the tender set a new record-low tariff of only US ¢5.89 per kilowatt-hour. This is about 20% lower than any previous, unsubsidized

(PPA) the world has seen before. The PPA is set to a 25-year time frame. Assuming the same capacity factor as for phase 1 (24.6%) the annual production will be approximately 430 GWh/yr.

Phase 3

In April 2015,

(DEWA) publicly announced the third phase of 800 MW_p.SolarServer.co
DEWA announces 800 MW third Phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park
, 21 April 2015 A consortium led by Abu Dubai Future Energy Company (Masdar) was awarded the contract for phase three in June 2016. The third phase was completed in 2020.

Phase 4

The characteristics of the 4th phase of the solar park changed several times during its conception. Originally, DEWA released a request for the Expression of Interest (EOI) for a 200 MW_e CSP project in October 2016 and announced the winning bid at 9.45 US cents/kWh purchase price in June 2017. Three months later in September 2017 the final project was revealed at 700 MW_e consisting of 600 MW_e

parabolic trough A parabolic trough is a type of solar thermal collector that is straight in one dimension and curved as a parabola in the other two, lined with a polished metal mirror. The sunlight which enters the mirror parallel to its plane of symmetry is foc ...

and a 100 MW_e

solar power tower A solar power tower, also known as 'central tower' power plant or 'heliostat' power plant, is a type of solar furnace using a tower to receive focused sunlight. It uses an array of flat, movable mirrors (called heliostats) to focus the sun's ra ...

both featuring large molten-salt

thermal energy storage Thermal energy storage (TES) is achieved with widely different technologies. Depending on the specific technology, it allows excess thermal energy to be stored and used hours, days, months later, at scales ranging from the individual process, ...

, while pointing out the record breaking purchase price of 7.30 US cents/kWh. However, analysts highlight that factors such as very low financing cost and an extraordinary long 35 year

PPA PPA may refer to: Biomedical * ''Palpatio per anum'', Latin medical term for a rectal examination * Parahippocampal place area located within the parahippocampal gyrus * Phenylpropanolamine * Primary progressive aphasia Organizations * Pakistan ...

contributed to this very low figure. Later in 2018 it was announced that 250 MW of solar PV would be added to the project now named Noor Energy 1. The

completed in 2020 is the tallest in the world standing at 262.44 m (861 ft) just 2.44m above the 260m tower completed in 2017 at the

Ashalim Power Station The Ashalim power station is a concentrated solar power station in the Negev desert near the kibbutz of Ashalim, south of the district city of Be'er Sheva in Israel. It consists of three plots with three different technologies the station combi ...

in Israel. The 4th phase aimes to finish by 2022.

Phase 5

On November 21, 2019, DEWA announced the selection of

and Gulf Investment Corporation as preferred EPC and financer respectively, to build and operate the fifth phase, a 900 MW solar power plant based on photovoltaic technology. The plant is scheduled to be commissioned in 2021.

Phase by phase project execution table

References

{{Reflist Solar power stations in the United Arab Emirates Energy infrastructure completed in 2013 2013 establishments in the United Arab Emirates