Dubai on course for another pricing record at Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park

Dewa managing director and chief executive, Saeed Al Tayer, said on Thursday that the utility would build the largest concentrated solar power plant in the world.

Saeed Al Tayer, the managing director and chief executive, of Dewa, says this solar plant will have thermal storage capability. Satish Kumar / The National
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Dubai is setting out to achieve another solar pricing record at Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

Saeed Al Tayer, the managing director and chief executive of Dubai Electricity and Water Auth­ority (Dewa), said that the utility would build the largest concentrated solar ­power (CSP) plant in the world.

The utility has released a tender for international CSP advisory companies for the first 200 megawatt phase out of a total 1 gigawatt.

The solar park will have a total capacity of 5GW by 2030 and this new phase will be based on CSP tower technology, said Mr Al Tayer. “There will be a thermal storage capability that will store energy for up to 12 hours on a daily basis,” he said.

The previous phases of the ­solar park have all used solar photovoltaic (PV) technology. Phase two set a world record for low bidding price and the 800MW third phase has already had further record-breaking bids submitted.

Switching from PV technology to CSP creates another opening for Dubai to lead the solar world and expand its local solar manufacturing sector.

While the cost of solar PV panels has dropped by 75 per cent in the five years to 2014 with more reductions expected, CSP remains a more expensive choice. Unlike PV, the cheaper technology, CSP has storage cap­abilities, which means energy can be used at night. Mr Al Tayer said he expects that Dubai will achieve CSP ­prices at about 8 US cents per kilowatt hour.

The lowest bid so far submitted in the region for CSP is for Morocco’s Noor II and III projects at 15.67 cents per kWh, more than five times higher than the lowest submitted price for PV in Dubai.

The UAE already has an operating CSP project in Abu Dhabi. The 100MW solar plant, led by Masdar, Spain’s Abengoa and Total of France, has been in operation for three years.

Frank Wouters, the former director of Masdar Clean En­ergy and ex-chairman of Shams Power, said people have been focused on price, which leads them to choose solar PV.

“It’s a bit of a chicken and egg scenario: if you don’t do things, you can’t get the cost down,” he said, adding that there are few CSP projects globally.

Dewa’s step towards CSP offers a chance to scale up local manufacturing. Mr Wouters said that 60 to 80 per cent of CSP components can be sourced loc­ally. “It’s easier to achieve a very high share of local content. It’s difficult to make the receiving tubes and parabolic mirrors, but the central tower, that’s all flat mirrors that are being used in the automobile industry. The rest is steel and cement,” he said.

The UAE has a favourable climate for solar investment including land and stellar credit ratings. As a result more industry records could soon be broken, said Mr Wouters.

lgraves@thenational.ae