Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) jointly announced on Wednesday the financial closing of the 1,800-megawatt (MW) sixth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

The lending group to the project includes Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank , Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Warba Bank, the DFM-listed DEWA said in a press statement.

The project is expected to cost 5.5 billion UAE dirhams ($1.5 billion), the statement noted.

Masdar was selected as the Preferred Bidder to build and operate the solar photovoltaic sixth phased based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model in August 2023 with Levelised Cost Of Energy (LCOE) bid of $1.6215 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh)

In January, Indian engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) announced that it was Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for Phase 6.

The project will cover an area of 20 square kilometres and use bifacial solar panels with single-axis tracking.

“The current production capacity at the solar park is 2,627MW and the total capacity under construction is 2033 MW.  The 1,800MW sixth phase of the solar park will see the total production capacity increase to 4,660MW by 2026. DEWA will have around 27 percent of the generation mix sourced from clean energy sources by 2030,” said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA.

“Accessing capital is fundamental to accelerating the global energy transition and this expansion of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is an important milestone for the UAE in its own clean energy journey. Masdar looks forward to further deepening our partnership with DEWA as we work collectively to support the country’s National Energy Strategy 2050 and the UAE Consensus,” added Mohamed Jameel Al-Ramahi, Masdar CEO.

For the 6th phase of the Solar Park, DEWA established Shuaa Energy 4 in partnership with Masdar. DEWA owns 60 percent of the company, whereas Masdar owns the remaining 40 percent.

(Editing by Anoop Menon) (anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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