Mammoth Dubai solar park set to power water pumping station

Dubai Water and Electricity Authority (DEWA) has said the AED23.1 million ($6.29 million), 7.5 million-gallons-per-day water pumping station installed at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park will be connected to the emirate's water network this month.

The public body, in a post published yesterday on its website, said the pumping station was 92% complete and will soon be providing the water needs of the vast solar park “and nearby areas.” The pumping station is being installed in two phases, the first of which had a daily capacity of 4.5 million imperial gallons.

The huge solar development, which is set to reach 5 GW of generation capacity this decade, has had 1,013 MW operational since the completion of its 800 MW third phase was announced in November.

pv magazine reported in November that the AED15.8 billion ($4.3 billion), 950 MW fourth phase – comprised of 700 MW of concentrating PV and 250 MW of conventional, ground-mounted panels – of the solar field was expected to “start coming online,” in the third quarter of this year.

Saudi energy company ACWA Power in September announced it had closed the $564 million financing needed for the 900 MW conventional photovoltaic fifth phase of the project. That stage of the development, which is at Saih Al-Dahal, south of Dubai, has been delayed, with pv magazine having reported, in February 2019, that the fifth phase was expected to have been commissioned this month.