14 DAY TRIAL // Dubai, one of the most tempting destinations for luxurious vacations, will green up its name in the near future, as part of a costly project seeking to open the nation's first solar park, in an attempt to reduce its coal and oil addiction.
The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park is expected to provide up to 1,000 megawatts of clean, green power until 2030. The giant park will be located in Seih Al Dahal, 30 kilometers far from Dubai and will occupy a surface of up to 48 square kilometers, the National informs.
The main goal is to increase the current solar power output displayed by Dubai, only 4.5MW, to a whopping 1,000 MW. To do so, authorities plan to exploit both solar PV technology and concentrated solar power, depending on large mirrors to capture and redirect sunlight to a surface where the heat is transformed to produce green energy.
"We have a plan to diversify the energy [sector] in Dubai and to increase solar power to 1 per cent by 2020 and 5 per cent by 2030," affirmed Saeed Al Tayer, the vice chairman of the Supreme Council of Energy.
The moment seems right for the development of a large-scale solar power, taking into consideration that the price of photovoltaic panels has decreased substantially over the last year and continues to follow the same trajectory.
Even though the opening of a solar facility is a reason of excitement, taking into account its environmental benefits, such an achievement is requires an investment superior to the one demanded by coal-fired plants, for example.
Officials involved in this new project estimate that the construction will have to backed with no less than Dh12 billion (€1.08billion/$1.38billion).
Nevertheless, despite the prohibitive costs, the project is still acclaimed as an ideal way of illustrating the connection between environmental awareness and energy resources.
”We recognize that preserving our energy resources will be one of the greatest challenges in our drive towards sustainable development.[..]The future generations will be the chief beneficiary of our achievements and the best judge of what we accomplish in this field,” explained Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, according to Khaleej Times.
Even if the deadline for this solar park is still far away, Dubai authorities are already looking for effective methods of attracting investments while thinking about ways of bringing the clean power generated at The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum park to the energy grid.
The first step of this project is represented by the construction of a 10MW solar plant, until 2013, which is financially supported by the Supreme Council of Energy in Dubai.