Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) will announce on Monday the winning bidder in a contest to build an 800-megawatt (MW) solar power plant in the emirate, the government-owned utility said.

Along with Dewa chief executive Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Masdar chairman Sultan Al Jaber and its chief executive officer Mohammad Jameel Al Ramahi are set to attend the press conference announcing the award, according to a Bloomberg report.

A group led by Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company Masdar had submitted the lowest bid to supply power to Dewa from the planned facility, stated the report, citing Meed.

Dewa said at the time that the lowest-cost bid of five received would provide power for 2.99 cents a kilowatt-hour. That price would undercut the cost of power generated from coal.

State utilities generally issue tenders to attract private investors to help build and operate power plants. The power plant developers offer to build the facility and provide power at a certain price, with the lowest bid generally winning.

When asked if it had been awarded the power plant contract, a Masdar spokesman referred questions to Dewa.

The Dubai utility, in turn, said it won’t comment before Monday’s announcement.

Developers were bidding to construct the third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park project.

The facility, to be developed as an independent power producer (IPP) model, is the largest single-site solar project in the world. It will produce 1,000 MW by 2020 and 5,000 MW by 2030, at a total investment of Dh50 billion ($13.6 billion), said a statement from Dewa.

Dubai is boosting solar generating capacity to diversify its energy mix and help meet growing demand for electricity. The emirate aims to get seven per cent of its power from clean energy sources by 2020.

Dubai currently has 13 MW in operation at the solar park and a further 200 megawatts under construction.-Bloomberg