Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) has invited consumers to apply for permission to connect their solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to its grid, under its Shams Dubai net metering scheme.

Dewa says 11 applicants have begun the approval process, and their projects total around 8.5MW. Dewa itself has already undertaken a 660kW project.

Dewa has approved equipment from 16 solar panel manufacturers for use in the scheme, including Yingli (China), Canadian Solar (Canada), JinkoSolar (China), Sunpower (the US) and Kyocera (Japan).

There are 19 contractors and consultants that have gained approval and are completing enrollment for the scheme. A list is expected before the end of March. They will serve as intermediaries between Dewa and consumers undertaking projects.

Inverter and interface equipment manufacturers have not yet been approved, but two or three companies have begun Dewa’s technical approval process. Others have expressed interest but are yet to start qualifying.

“We are working together on interim solutions for the first 11 projects as we create a new country code,” said Armando Dominiononi, senior manager of regulation at Dewa. “The testing is time consuming and some invertor and interface equipment may need minor modifications or software reconfiguration.”

Technical approval application is open and there is no limit to the number of companies on the list. Dewa is welcoming more applications to diversify the options for consumers.

In early March, a 30kW solar PV project at Dubai World Centre al-Maktoum International Airport was the first to connect to the grid.

The current pilot stage projects are being approved on an ad hoc basis, but as processes are normalised they will speed up. Gaining approval for small to medium projects should take four months from applying for a certificate of no objection, through design approvals and inspection, to connection to the grid. Technical and legal documents are available on Dewa’s website and there is an AED1,500 ($409) fee for connection.

Dewa has the grid capacity to connect 2,600MW of extra generation capacity without needing extra investment.

“The scheme encourages renewable energy to increase the diversification of the energy mix,” said Saeed Mohammed al-Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dewa. “It’s a step towards establishing a culture of sustainability, helping Dubai reach pole position internationally for smart cities.”

There are no plans to include other technologies in the net metering scheme.

Dubai is not providing subsidies for the costs on the scheme, as falls in the price of solar PV technology means that the energy offset on consumer bills should attract private sector interest.