MBR AL Maktoum Solar Park’s Capacity Reaches 3.86 GW

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has announced that the total production capacity of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park has increased to 3.86 gigawatts (GW), using photovoltaic (PV) solar panels and concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies.

Since the beginning of this year, DEWA has added 800 MW from the solar park’s sixth phase. Clean energy now constitutes around 21.5% of DEWA’s total energy production capacity, Managing Director and CEO of DEWA Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer said in a statement.

According to him, DEWA’s strategies and action plans were inspired by the vision and directives of H H Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable green economy and enhance Dubai’s position as a leading global hub for clean and renewable energy.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is DEWA’s key project to realise this vision and achieve the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050, which aim to provide 100% of the emirate’s energy production capacity from clean sources by 2050, he said.

By 2030, the solar park’s production capacity will reach 7.26 GWs, with clean energy making up 34% of DEWA’s energy mix. This will reduce approximately eight million tonnes of carbon emissions annually, Al Tayer explained.

MBR Al Maktoum Solar Park

The first phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, with a capacity of 13 MW using PV solar panels, was commissioned in October 2013.

In March 2017, the second phase, with a capacity of 200 MW, was inaugurated. It also uses PV technology and was the first solar energy project of its kind in the region based on the independent power producer (IPP) model.

In November 2020, the third phase of the solar park was inaugurated with a capacity of 800 MW. This phase, also using PV technology, was the first in the Middle East and North Africa to use single-axis solar tracking to enhance energy generation.

In December 2023, the fourth phase of the solar park was inaugurated with a total capacity of 950 MW, combining CSP and PV panels. It uses three hybrid technologies to produce clean energy: 600 MW from a parabolic basin complex, 100 MW from a solar power tower and 250 MW from PV solar panels.

In June 2023, the fifth phase, with a capacity of 900 MW, was inaugurated using photovoltaic panels. DEWA is currently working to complete the sixth phase of the solar park, with a capacity of 1.8 GW using PV panels.

DEWA has invited international developers to participate in the implementation of the seventh phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which will have a capacity of 1.6 GW. This phase, which is expandable to 2 GW, will utilise PV solar panels and a battery energy storage system with a capacity of 1 GW for six hours, providing a total storage capacity of 6 GW-hours.

This will make it one of the world’s largest solar-plus-storage projects and the phase will be implemented under the IPP model.