Dubai awards contract for final phase of solar park

The Gulf desert emirate of Dubai on Saturday announced the award of a $3.8-billion contract for the final phase of a solar park aimed at generating 5,000 megawatts of electricity by 2030.

The local government said the contract for the fourth and final phase went to Chinese conglomerate Shanghai Electric and ACWA Power of Saudi Arabia.

The solar park named after Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed Al-Maktoum, went online in 2013 and the final phase is to be launched in stages from 2020, bringing the overall cost to $13.6 billion.

Dubai, which has dwindling oil reserves unlike Abu Dhabi, a fellow member of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has set a target of 2050 to produce 75 percent of its electricity needs from renewable energy sources.

Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, is building four nuclear power plants, each with a 1,400-megawatt capacity, the first of which is scheduled to launch operations in 2018. The overall costs are put at more than $25 billion.

The UAE has announced it plans to invest a total of $163 billion in projects aimed at supplying the country with almost half of its energy needs from renewable sources.

source: AFP