First Solar Inc. has signed an agreement to supply photovoltaic modules for the 200-megawatt second phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
Earlier this year, a consortium led by ACWA Power, a leading water and power developer, owner and operator based in Saudi Arabia, and TSK, a Spanish engineering and construction company, was selected by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority to develop, construct, own and operate the independent power project. According to the consortium, the project’s tariff of US$5.84 cents per kilowatt-hour establishes a new global benchmark, reducing the cost of solar electricity by over 20 percent.
Significantly, the utility scale solar plant will be the largest facility of its kind in the Middle East when completed in early 2017. The plant will produce enough energy to power 30,000 average homes in the UAE and will displace over 469,650 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. The project will be powered by over 2.36 million First Solar modules, compared to the 152,880 that were installed in the 13-MW first phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The plant will be built over an area of almost 4.5 million square meters, sufficient to cover as many as 100 soccer pitches.
“ACWA Power’s commitment to deliver reliable and sustainable electricity at the lowest KwH tariff is reflected clearly in the win it has secured in the second phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park,” said Paddy Padmanathan, President and Chief Executive Officer of ACWA Power. “The technology we plan to implement has a proven advantage over conventional solar panels, delivering more annual energy for the same nameplate watts under the specific project conditions of the DEWA project. The organic performance growth program that First Solar is developing with their modules sets a benchmark in the PV industry, allowing us to benefit from a long-term reliable and durable power generation technology for projects of this scale.”
“This project’s impact on the global energy transition cannot be overstated. It has effectively driven down the cost of solar electricity, marking a new milestone in solar PV’s evolution as a mainstream energy resource,” said Ahmed S. Nada, Vice President and Region Executive for the Middle East at First Solar. “In this competitive environment, the decision to power the project with First Solar technology is testament to the ability of our high performance modules to reliably deliver energy, even in challenging operating conditions. In fact, with this win, First Solar will have earned the position of being the leading PV solutions provider in the Middle East, with a projected installed capacity of at least 270MW across the region by 2017.”
