Dubai-based SirajPower has signed a contract install a 1MW photovoltaic (PV) solar system at the local Al-Abbar Aluminium’s Jebel Ali facility.

SirajPower will finance, build and operate the solar system under a 20-year lease agreement with the aluminium company. Al-Abbar expects the solar installation to reduce demand from the grid by 40 per cent.

The project is part of Dubai’s Shams rooftop initiative, which was launched in 2015 to encourage customers to install PV panels and connect their systems to the emirate’s grid. The electricity is used onsite and the surplus is exported to the grid. An offset between exported and imported electricity units will be conducted and the customer account is settled based on this difference, a system known as net metering.

In early March 2015, a 30kW solar PV project at Al-Maktoum International airport was the first to connect to the grid.

 In April 2016, Dubai-based airline Emirates successfully installed a 1MW PV facility on its Emirates Engine Maintenance Centre in Dubai. The installed system includes 2,990 PV panels, which will produce up to 1MW of power during peak periods. The panels are expected to provide more than 1,884MWh of electricity a year.

 At the same time, Dewa announced that it had installed 5,240 PV panels on the roof of its water reservoir at its M-Station power plant, which will produce 1.5MW of power.