With plenty of capacity left to add at the sprawling Dubai solar park, Masdar is reportedly preparing to enter new global PV markets.
Image: Ghadir Shaar
Ahead of next week’s World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, the CEO of the emirate’s Masdar renewable energy investment company has reportedly pledged to double the scale of generation capacity developed within five years “or less”.
Speaking to news agency Reuters today, Mohamed Jameel al Ramahi said Masdar would also develop projects in Asia and “the Americas” for the first time as it aims to double up on the 4 GW it claims it has brought to the grid to date.
It was not clear what proportion of the purported 4 GW of new capacity would be solar PV as Masdar – a wholly owned entity of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala investment company – also develops wind and concentrating solar power (CSP) projects.
Masdar made headlines worldwide in June 2016 when it set a record low tariff for solar energy of $0.0299/kWh for phase III of the huge Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park project taking shape in Dubai. Masdar is working with French energy company EDF on the project and its partner has said a 300 MW slice of the park is due for commissioning this year with a further 300 MW due online next year.
To date, Masdar has deployed projects in its domestic market and elsewhere in the Middle East as well as in Britain, the Seychelles and Spain.
Abu Dhabi will host the World Future Energy Summit from Monday to Thursday next week.
Source: pv magazine
