Record Low $0.024/kWh PV Tariff in Dubai

• DEWA has signed an amendment to a PPA signed with ACWA Power led consortium to add 250 MW PV capacity to the 4^th phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park
• It will procure power from the solar PV power generated for a total of $0.024 per kWh
• This takes the total capacity of the project from the original 700 MW to 950 MW

A 700 MW concentrating solar thermal power facility being built by a consortium led by ACWA Power will add 250 MW of solar PV panels to take the total capacity of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in the 4^th phase to 950 MW. The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has signed an amendment to the power purchase agreement signed with the consortium and will buy power generated from the PV panels for $0.024 per kWh, which it says is the world's lowest.

DEWA said this amendment raises the total investment for the project to AED 16 billion ($4.36 billion).

Now the project will use three technologies to produce clean energy, 600 MW from a parabolic basin complex, 100 MW from a solar tower and 250 MW from PV panels. ACWA Power announced breaking ground on the project in March 2018. Back then, it said 'the 1^st stage of the 700 MW CSP 4^th phase will be commissioned in Q4 of 2020'.

The consortium comprises DEWA, ACWA Power and China's Silk Road Fund. China's Shanghai Electric is associated with the project as the EPC contractor.

On completion by 2030, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park will have a cumulative capacity of 5 GW. Being developed in phases, the 1^st phase was a 13 MW PV plant that became operational in 2013. The 2^nd phase of 200 MW comprising PV technology was commissioned in March 2017 by ACWA Power and Spain's TSK (see DEWA Commissions 200 MW Ahead Of Schedule). The 3^rd phase of 800 MW capacity, being developed by a consortium led by Masdar, is scheduled to come online in 2020 (see DEWA Selects Masdar Consortium).

The 4^th phase is now planned to have 950 MW, 250 MW more than the previous planned capacity of 700 MW.

Talking about the Noor Energy 1 project, DEWA stated, "The 4^th phase is the largest investment project in the world using Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) on a single site, and is based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model. This project has already achieved many world records. It achieved the lowest Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of $0.073 cents per kilowatt hour (kW/h) for the CSP technology, the lowest worldwide. The project will have the world's tallest solar tower at 260 metres, and the largest thermal energy storage capacity in the world of 15 hours, which allows for energy generation round the clock."