Dewa seeks solar and battery package advisers

18 November 2024

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State utility Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) has invited firms to bid for the transaction advisory package for phase seven of Dubai’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MBR) Solar Park.

The planned seventh phase of the solar park will include a 1,600MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant and a 1,000MW battery energy storage system (bess) plant, which can provide up to six hours of storage.

Dewa said the closing date for the completed tender is on 17 December.

MEED understands that the transaction advisory package covers technical, financial and legal services.

An estimated 1,913MW of solar PV capacity and 950MW of hybrid solar PV and concentrated solar power (CSP) capacity from the solar park are now connected to the grid.

A further 1,800MW of capacity for the project’s sixth phase is under construction.

Dewa’s first energy storage project, the 250MW Hatta pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant, is 94.15% complete, and generator installations are under way in preparation for a trial operation in the first quarter of 2025.

The plant’s upper dam, which includes a 72-metre-high main wall and a 37-metre-high side dam, has also been filled. The plant will have a storage capacity of 1,500 megawatt-hours and a lifespan of up to 80 years.

The 950MW fourth phase of the MBR solar park, which required an investment of AED15.78bn ($4.34bn), has also been completed.

It uses hybrid technologies: 600MW from a parabolic basin complex, 100MW from the CSP tower and 250MW from solar PV panels. Its thermal energy storage facility has a capacity of 5,907 megawatt-hours (MWh), the world's largest according to the Guinness World Records.

Sixth phase

In February, Dewa and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) reached financial close for the 1,800MW sixth phase of MBR Solar Park, which is expected to cost up to AED5.51bn ($1.5bn).

Once completed in 2026, the 1,800MW sixth phase will increase the solar park’s total production capacity to 4,660MW.

Located in Saih Al-Dahal on the outskirts of Dubai, the construction status of the phases of the MBR Solar Park project are as follows:

  • 13MW solar PV phase one: Completed in 2013
  • 200MW solar PV phase two: Commissioned in 2017
  • 800MW solar PV phase three: Commissioned in 2020
  • 950MW hybrid CSP/solar PV phase four: Inaugurated in 2023
  • 900MW solar PV phase five: Commissioned in 2023
  • 1,800MW solar PV phase six: Under construction

The state utility aims for clean energy sources to deliver about 27% of its generation mix by 2030.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo
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