Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has announced that Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) has emerged as the lowest bidder for the development of the sixth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, said to be the largest single-site solar park in the world with a 1,800MW capacity. 

 

Dewa said it began the procurement process for Phase 6 by issuing an Expression of Interest (EOI) in September last year, followed by Request for Qualification (RFQ) to 23 interested bidders in November. 

 

Then through a rigorous qualification process, the Dubai utility prequalified seven international bidders to whom the Requests for Proposal (RFPs) were issued in December, which finally resulted in the selection of two bidders. 

 

Apart from Masdar's lowest bid of $1.62154 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), Dewa had received another one from leading Saudi utility projects developer Acwa Power.

 

On the lowest bid, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO, said: "Dewa has broken its own record and achieved the lowest price (levelized cost) for PV solar power projects based on the IPP model in Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. This supports the wise leadership's priority toward clean and renewable energy projects, which has contributed to their global cost reduction." 

 

The current total production capacity of solar plants at the MBR solar park is 2,327 MW. Additionally, there are 533MW facilities under construction at the Solar Park, he stated. 

 

The sixth phase of the solar park will become operational in stages starting from Q4 next year and once fully completed, it will take this phase's production capacity to 4,660MW, he noted.

 

The projects at the MBR solar park, the largest single-site solar park in the world, are of great interest to international developers and reaffirm investor confidence in the major projects supported by the Government of Dubai, stated Al Tayer. 

 

"Dewa has attracted huge investments to the UAE from the private sector and foreign banks, leading to increased cash flow to the economy of Dubai and the UAE," he added.

 

Al Tayer pointed out that Dewa is aiming to achieve its goal to provide 100% of Dubai’s total power capacity from clean energy sources by 2050 through these projects.  

 

When completed, the solar park will reduce over 6.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually, he added.-TradeArabia News Service