By Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme
According to report, United Arab Emirates is the leading country among the GCC Countries for executing several Solar Power Projects. The United Arab Emirates is currently transitioning from an electricity generation system to 100% powered by nuclear, solar and other renewables in order to substantially reduce its carbon emissions. The UAE has massive solar generation potential.
The United Arab Emirates has retracted several assumptions about the Middle East and hydrocarbon-exporters with its embrace of renewable energy. The cost competitiveness of renewable energy gives the country the opportunity to dramatically increase its ambition and demonstrate the industry’s financial viability in the region, while also securing a stable and very low-risk supply of energy, thereby extending the lifetime of its fossil fuel reserves. Renewable energy is now economically attractive in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and some of the major solar power projects in UAE is listed below:
- Four Nuclear Power Reactors Under Contruction in UAE: South Korean consortium are building four commercial nuclear power reactors, total 5.6 GWe (Gigawatt of electrical output), the first is more than 75% complete and is expected to be completed in 2017.
- DEWA to build the GCC’s biggest hydroelectric power station: The project will be the first of its kind in the Gulf, and it will make use of water stored in the mountains next to the dam to
produce 250MW of power, with a lifespan of 60-80 years, DEWA said in a statement. The power station itself will work through two reservoirs.
- Lane Construction and NCTC Secures $125 Million Contract to Expand Dubai’s Al Maktoum Airport: Lane Construction Corporation, a US-based subsidiary of Salini Impregilo Group and National Contracting Transportation Company (NCTC), headquartered in Sharjah, UAE, has secured $125 million contracts to expand Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai.
- The First Waste to Energy Plant in Abu Dhabi: The United Arab Emirates has decided to build its first ever Waste to Energy (WtE) facility in Abu Dhabi.The new WtE facility will reduce CO2 emissions by more than 1.5 million tonnes per year, supply more than 20,000 households with electricity and play a key role in achieving its 80% landfill diversion target.
- The First Clean Coal-Fired Power Plant in UAE: Hassyan Energy Company has awarded a major EPC contract to Harbin Electric International and General Electric (GE) to produce 2,400 MW of net electricity using clean coal.Hassyan Energy Company is a joint venture between Dewa (51 per cent) and Acwa Power Harbin Holding Company (49 per cent).
- Mohammed Bin Rashi Al Maktoum Solar Park Under Construction: Dewa announced that the Masdar-led consortium was the selected bidder for the 800MW third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, to be completed by 2020, based on the IPP model, after getting a Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of $2.99 cents per kilowatt hour (kW/h).
