The UAE has launched the largest concentrated solar power (CSP) project in the world in the fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai.

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai inaugurated the project.

Built at an investment of Dh15.78 billion ($4.3 billion), the independent power producer (IPP) project features the tallest solar tower in the world, standing at 263.1 m high, and the largest thermal energy storage capacity of 5,907 megawatt hours (MWh), according to the Guinness World Records.

The 950-MW plant covers an area of 44 sq km and uses three hybrid technologies: 600 MW parabolic basin complex, 100 MW CSP tower, and 250 MW photovoltaic solar panels. It also features 70,000 heliostats that track the sun’s movement.

The molten salt receiver (MSR) on top of the solar power tower is the core and the most important part of the CSP plant. It receives solar radiation and turns it into thermal energy.

The MSR contains over 1,000 thin tubes that enable the absorption of sunrays and their transfer to the molten salt within these tubes.

The project will provide approximately 320,000 residences with clean and sustainable energy.

It will reduce carbon emissions by about 1.6 million tonnes annually, enhancing Dubai’s position as a leading global hub in clean, renewable energy and climate action.

The solar park, whose current capacity has reached 2,627 MW, is the cornerstone to achieving the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 of providing 100 per cent energy from clean energy sources by 2050.

A build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract for the 950-MW (initial 700 MW) Noor Energy 1 CSP plant was awarded by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) to a consortium of Saudi Arabia's Acwa Power and Shanghai Electric in September 2017.

The contract included a 35-year power purchase agreement, under which Dewa will off-take electricity from the project at $7.30 cents per KWh, a price competitive with fossil fuel-based power generation.

The Acwa-led consortium (49 per cent) together with Dewa (51 per cent) formed the project company Noor Energy 1 to design, build, and operate the plant, in the same year.