Dubai Electricity and Water Authority gave official confirmation about the winners of the 800 MW phase III of the Dubai solar power park.
A Masdar Group-led consortium was confirmed as the winner of 800 MW solar power tender that was floated by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) last year. The consortium includes Fotowatio Renewable Ventures and Gransolar Group.
The 800 MW phase III of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park will be commissioned by 2020 and will add to the existing 13 MW and under-development 200 MW capacity. The phase III tender set another record for lowest-ever solar PV tariff globally. The Masdar-led consortium beat the phase II winning bid of US¢5.84/kWh with a bid of US¢2.99/kWh.
A fourth phase of the solar power park was announced by DEWA recently which will have an installed capacity of 1 GW.
Initially, the Authority received as many as 95 expressions of interest. Many prospective bidders are believed to have formed joint ventures for the subsequent rounds of bidding, with around 20 left in the fray at the end of last year. These included biggies like SunEdison, ACWA Power, JinkoSolar–RWE, REC Solar, and Engie.
The initial installed capacity target for Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park was set at 1 GW by 2019. However, last year, DEWA announced that it would boost the park’s capacity to 3 GW by 2030, with a total estimated investment of $3 billion.
The solar power park is central to DEWA’s target to source 7% of Dubai’s total power output from renewable energy sources by 2020, and 15% by 2030.
