The government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has inaugurated the 950 MW fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, located in the Dubai Emirate. This phase is the largest investment project that uses three hybrid technologies : 600 MW from a parabolic basin complex, 100 MW from a CSP tower, and 250 MW from solar PV panels. The solar park also features the largest thermal energy storage capacity with 5.9 GWh. The AED15.8bn (US$4.3bn) project covers an area of 44 km2 and is able to provide electricity to about 320,000 Emirati households. It is expected to offset emissions by about 1.6 MtCO2/year.
The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is the largest single-site solar park in the world with a total planned capacity of 5 GW upon completion by 2030. The solar park, which is expected to require a total investment of AED50bn (US$13.6bn), based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model, is expected to reduce emissions by 6.5 MtCO2/year when fully completed. Dubai inaugurated the 900 MW fifth phase of the project in June 2023, and Masdar was awarded a contract to build and operate the 1.8 GW sixth phase in September 2023.
The UAE’s solar capacity increased from 0.6 GW in 2018 to just over 3 GW in 2022, representing about 7% of the country’s total installed capacity. Solar represented around 4% of power generation in 2022.
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