Dubai: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) received five bids from international organizations for the third phase of its Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, said HE Saeed Mohammed AlTayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, according to a story by news outlet MENA Herald. The lowest recorded bid at the opening of the envelopes was US 2.99 cents per kilowatt hour, something of a world record according to reports.
The next step in the bidding process will review the technical and commercial aspects of the bids to select the best one.
DEWA had released a request for the Expression of Interest (EOI) for the 800MW third phase of the solar park on 8 September 2015 and received 95 EOI responses from international solar organizations between 8—29 September 2015. DEWA requested companies submit their requests for qualification before November 2015. This was followed by a Request for Proposals (RFP) to qualified bidders on 28 December 2015.
The 200MW Phase II of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is touted to become the biggest solar power plant in the Middle East. The renewable power project, being developed under build-own-operate (BOO) mode, is scheduled to begin operations in 2017.
The project forms part of the larger 1GW Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which is expected to be completed by 2030. The overall project site will cover an area of 48km², located south-east of Dubai. The total development cost of the project is estimated to be AED12bn ($3.2bn approximately). The 13MW Phase I of the project started operations in October 2013.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park at Seih Al Dahal in early 2012. The first phase was successfully completed after one year, with a capacity of 13 megawatts.