Dubai seeks bids for Dh12b solar park

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority plans to issue the first bids for a Dh12 billion solar park by September that will generate 1,000 megawatts of power by 2030. "The bids will be out in the third quarter for the first ten-megawatt unit and the contract will be awarded in the fourth quarter of this year," Fatima Al Shamsi, senior manager for New Business Development at Dewa, said. "The first unit will start operations in 2013." Dewa, Dubai's utility monopoly, awarded a contract last month to ILF Consulting Engineers to provide consultancy services for the Arabian Gulf's largest solar park, which is to be built on a 48 square kilometre area. It's to be called Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park after the ruler of Dubai, who's also Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE. Dubai, the largest emirate in the UAE after Abu Dhabi, is seeking to diversify sources of electricity and improve energy efficiency to ensure long-term supplies.