Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has issued a request for qualification (RFQ) for development of 900 MW solar PV projects located within the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, about 50km south of the city of Dubai.

DEWA will purchase the power generated by the project and sign a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).

The last date for the submission of Statement of Qualification is March 31, 2019.

The MENA (the Middle East and North Africa region) is teeming with solar activity.

Recently, Mercom has reported that the Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), Abu Dhabi’s state-owned water and electric utility has invited expressions of interest (EoI) for the development of 2 GW of solar power projects at Al Dafra, 50 kilometers from Abu Dhabi. The last date to submit EoI is March 5, 2019.

In March 2018, Mercom reported that the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park was set to become the largest single-site solar park in the world based on the Independent Power Producer model. The solar park is set to generate 1,000 MW by 2020 and 5,000 MW by 2030 and once completed; the project is expected to provide clean energy to over 270,000 residences in Dubai and eliminate 1.4 million tons of carbon emissions per year.

In November 2018, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) signed an agreement to add 250 MW of solar photovoltaic at the fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. This increased the total capacity of the solar park from 700 MW to 950 MW.

The agreement was amended to include power purchase agreement with the consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power which also includes China’s Shanghai Electric for the additional 250 MW solar PV to be developed for a tariff of $0.024/kWh.