United Arab Emirates

Overall, 64 companies have expressed interest in building the next 900 MW phase of the huge Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The first section of this part of the park is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2021.

Amid mounting political tensions in the region, the city has issued a call for consultants to help it towards its ambitious 2050 climate goals through the use of a PV technology which is proving increasingly popular around the world.

With clean energy being generated at lower and lower prices around the world, solar power is playing a leading role in bringing the curtain down on coal, and will help the decarbonization of transport and space heating too.

While the world’s biggest solar manufacturers are confident there are plenty of alternative markets for a rising volume of panel exports, the message spelled out by first-quarter shipment figures is that protectionism works.

The world had more than half a terawatt of PV generation capacity at the end of last year as emerging solar markets picked up the slack caused by Beijing’s subsidy about-turn to the tune of a 20% rise in installations outside China.

Phase IV of the huge solar park includes a 700 MW CSP plant and a 250 MW PV facility. Funds for the $4.2 billion project will be provided by banks from the United Arab Emirates and China, as well as other international lenders.

Dubai’s residential sector is set to experience a lift this year thanks to plans to install solar rooftops on 10% of the emirate’s homes. The DEWA-funded rooftop program was launched under the Shams Dubai initiative, which offers net-metering for small-scale solar.

The utility has issued a request for qualification for a further 900 MW of PV at the huge solar park, which is set to reach a total capacity of 5 GW.

Analysts at PV InfoLink said the number of markets open to new technologies such as half-cut and shingled panels is constantly rising. Australia, Japan, Spain, the UAE and Brazil were cited as the hottest markets for Chinese “special modules”. Total annual production in China for half-cut modules, which are set to increase their market share this year, should reach around 20 GW.

Details are few at this stage, with a site for the big project still to be selected, although the Bangladeshi government has confirmed the tariff for electricity produced by the plant will be $0.095/kWh.