By Anthony Dipaola for Bloomberg
Dubai took another step toward completing what it says will be the largest solar park of its kind, inaugurating a 200-megawatt facility with partners Electricite de France SA and Abu Dhabi-based renewables company Masdar.
The third and latest phase of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park will help Dubai toward its goal of generating about 10 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2020. The Gulf Arab city-state is already operating the first two phases of the project in the emirate’s desert and has broken ground on a fourth section.
Like several of its neighbors, Dubai relies on fossil fuels, including imported natural gas, to generate electricity, and it’s developing solar energy and other renewables to diversify supply. Dubai is the second-largest sheikhdom in the United Arab Emirates, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest producer, is pushing into renewables, as is Jordan and the U.A.E. emirate of Abu Dhabi.
