Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has launched a pilot project for energy storage at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park which uses Tesla’s lithium-ion battery solution. With a power capacity of 1.21 MW and an energy capacity of 8.61 MWh, the project has a life span of up to 10 years. DEWA is also working on other energy storage initiatives, such as deploying concentrated solar power (CSP) in the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park’s fourth phase. With a capacity of 950MW, the project combines CSP with photovoltaic solar panels.
The project will have the world’s largest global thermal storage capacity of 15 hours, allowing for round-the-clock energy availability. DEWA is also building a 250MW pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant at Hatta, which will be the first of its kind in the Arabian Gulf. It will generate power utilising water stored at Hatta Dam, which has a 1,500 MWh storage capacity. DEWA with Expo 2020 Dubai and Siemens Energy has also launched a green hydrogen project, which is the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa. The project manufactures green hydrogen using solar power. The project was carried out at DEWA’s Outdoor Testing Facility of the Research and Development (R&D) Centre at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai.
In November 2020, DEWA reported that the third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBRAM) Solar Park was commissioned. HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, inaugurated the 800 MW third phase of the park, which was the largest single-site solar park in the world at that time built at an investment of $13.6 billion (Dh50 billion). The third phase was developed by French renewables company, EDF in collaboration with DEWA and the Abu Dhabi Future Group.
REGlobal’s Views: United Arab Emirates has long been reliant on hydrocarbons for meeting its energy requirements. However, the country has recently started focusing on increasing its clean energy development through a mix of solar, energy storage, electric vehicles and other means.
