The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority will start accepting expressions of interest for the third phase of the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Solar Park at the end of September, it said on Saturday. The tender for the project, an 800 megawatt power plant, will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2015, the company said in a statement.
Dubai doubled the capacity of the second phase of the solar park from 100 MW to 200 MW after receiving the lowest ever recorded cost for solar power in a tender won by Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power and Spain's TSK. Dubai's strategic plans envision 7 percent of power generation from renewables by 2020 and 15 percent by 2030. The 13 MW first phase became operational in October 2013, while the 200 MW second phase will be operational by 2017. The full solar park scheme will have a capacity of 3,000 MW.