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New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
A trip to Dubai’s world-beating solar power plant
27/9/2023
8 min read
Feature
Dubai’s Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) operates the largest single site solar power plant in the world, while the wider United Arab Emirates (UAE) now operates the region’s first nuclear power plant, Barakah. There’s also a lot of gas and oil around, and November’s COP28 will be held in the city. Andrew Mourant went to visit.
On a vast tract of arid flat land around 50 km south of Dubai, serried ranks of photovoltaic (PV) panels stretch as far as the eye can see. Mohammed bin Rashid (MBR) Al Maktoum solar park is already the world’s biggest single site installation of its kind, but in the UAE, nothing is done by halves. Details emerged this month of a further enormous expansion – the sixth phase – which is expected to add a further 1,800 MW capacity.
The plant already produces more than 2,400 MW, 16.3% of all the electricity produced across Dubai Emirate. The sense is of the UAE being a country in a hurry – even more so as it’s hosting COP28 at the end of the year. What more virtuous signal of intent could there be?
It’s hard to imagine that a decade ago not one solar panel sat on that site. A veteran UAE PR consultant recalls a visiting CEO in the early 2000s asking what green industries there were in the UAE. ‘Absolutely none,’ he replied. But then, of course, there was far less sense of urgency about climate change.