Dubai Electricity & Water Authority has officially inaugurated the 200MW second phase of its Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum solar park.

The 200MW photovoltaic (PV) plant, the largest completed PV plant in the Middle East, was officially opened on 20 March.

The 200MW facility was developed by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, with Spain’s TSK providing EPC services and the US’ First Solar providing solar panels for the project.

The Acwa Power consortium was awarded the contract to develop the plant in January 2015. The developer had been initially selected as preferred bidder for the originally tendered 100MW second phase, but eventually signed a power purchase agreement with Dewa for a then world record tariff of 5.85 cents a kilowatt hour. The final agreed tariff was reduced to 5.61 cents a kilowatt hour.

The low tariff achieved for the second phase project was a key factor behind Dubai raising its 2030 renewable energy target from 5 to 25 per cent of total power generation.

The emirate recently awarded a contract to a consortium led by Abu Dhabi’s Masdar to develop the 800MW third phase of the solar park, which also achieved a world record low tariff under a competitive bidding process.