The Austrian firm ILF Consulting Engineers has been appointed as the owner’s engineer for the 200MW second phase of the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum solar park in Dubai.

ILF will undertake the independent owner’s engineer role for the 200MW photovoltaic (PV) plant. The Austrian firm was awarded the contract by Shuaa Energy, the project company formed to develop the project.

In March, the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power. Spain’s TSK is also participating in the consortium, and the US’ First Solar will provide solar panels. Dewa appointed the Netherlands’ KPMG as financial adviser and the UK’s London Norton Rose Fulbright as legal adviser in March 2014.

In October, Dewa received 95 expressions of interest (EOI) for the proposed 800MW third phase of the solar park.

The state utilities provider received the 95 EOIs by the 29 September deadline, and is preparing request for qualification (RFQ) documents. Dewa is planning to issue RFQs by November and is hoping to issue tender documents to prequalified groups by the end of 2015.

Like the first two phases, the 800MW third phase will use photovoltaic (PV) solar technology. It will be developed as an independent power project (IPP). If developed as planned in one stage, it will be the largest single-phase solar scheme in the world. Dewa has set a planned commissioning date of 2018 for the project.