Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) has received 95 expressions of interest (EOI) for the proposed 800MW third phase of its Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum solar park. The state utilities provider received the 95 EOIs by the 29 September deadline, and is preparing request for qualification (RFQ) documents. Dewa is planning to issue RFQs by November and is hoping to issue tender documents to prequalified groups by the end of 2015. Like the first two phases, the 800MW third phase will use photovoltaic (PV) solar technology. It will be developed as an independent power project (IPP). If developed as planned in one stage, it will be the largest single-phase solar scheme in the world. Dewa has set a planned commissioning date of 2018 for the project. Dewa had received bids from nine companies for the advisory services contract on the 800MW third phase. The low bid of AED2.2m ($599m) was submitted by the local EM Green Contracting & General Maintenance, which was 50 per cent lower than the second-lowest price of AED4.4m, submitted by Germany’s MW Decon.
The ambitious size of the third phase is in line with Dewa’s announcement in February that it was planning to increase the proposed capacity of the solar park to 3,000MW by 2030, from the previous target of 1,000MW. The decision to increase its solar energy targets followed the success of the state utility’s first IPP for the second phase of the solar scheme, under which a world-record low bid was received to develop the project.The second phase was originally tendered as a 100MW IPP, but due to the competitive price submitted by the low bidder, Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, Dewa decided to double the capacity and develop a 200MW project. Acwa Power submitted the record-low tariff price of 5.98 cents a kilowatt hour (kWh) in November, and was selected as preferred bidder in January on an alternative Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) bid of 5.85 cents a kWh. On 29 March, Dewa signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Acwa Power for the second phase. Spain’s TSK is also participating in the consortium, and the US’ First Solar will provide solar panels. Dewa appointed the Netherlands’ KPMG as financial adviser and the UK’s London Norton Rose Fulbright as legal adviser in March 2014.
