Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) has selected a consortium led by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), Saudi Arabia’s Abdul Latif Jameel and Spain’s Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) as the preferred bidder for the 800MW third phase of Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum solar park.

Speaking at an event to mark the selection of the preferred bidder, Saeed Mohammed al-Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dewa, said the utility “was looking forward to working with Masdar” and that there “would be other areas of joint cooperation with Masdar in the future”.

MEED reported on 1 May that the preferred bidder had submitted a world-record low tariff of 3 cents a kilowatt hour ($c/kWh) for the independent power project (IPP).

Dewa received bids from five consortiums for the 800MW photovoltaic (PV) solar project.

The low bid was 18 per cent lower than the 3.65$c/kWh submitted by China’s Jinko Solar Holding.

A consortium of Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power and the US’ First Solar submitted the third-lowest tariff of 3.95$c/kWh. The UK/French Engie and Japanese Marubeni consortium submitted the fourth-ranked tariff of 4.382$c/kWh, with France’s EDF Renovables and Qatar’s Nebras submitting the final bid of 4.482$c/kWh.

The scheme will be developed in three phases, with the full 800MW to be online in 2020.

The 200MW first phase is planned to be commissioned by April 2018. The second phase will have a capacity of 300MW, which will be commissioned by April 2019. The final 300MW third phase will be commissioned by April 2020.

The scheme will be developed under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

MEED reported in December 2015 that Dewa had received 21 requests for qualification (RFQs) for the scheme. The utility had received expressions of interest (EOIs) from 95 companies in September.

In 2015, Dubai increased its targets for renewable energy. The Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum solar park is planned to produce 1,000MW of renewable energy, with this figure rising to 5,000MW by 2030.