The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced it received two bids from ACWA Power and Masdar for the tender it launched in September 2022 for the 1,800 MW 6th phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

The utility said Masdar submitted the lowest bid of $0.0162154/kWh. “DEWA has broken its own record and achieved the lowest price for PV solar power projects based on the IPP model in Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park,” said DEWA CEO Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer.

DEWA said it will announce the preferred bidder in the third quarter of this year. It expects the 6th phase of the giant project to begin commercial operations in the fourth quarter of 2024.

DEWA had selected 23 bidders in the initial phase of the tender.

The 5th phase of the 5 GW Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park has a capacity of 900 MW and is currently under construction.

As of the end of October 2022, the facility reached an operational PV capacity of 1.83 GW – including the 13 MW first phase, the 200 MW second stage, and the 800 MW third phase, plus sections of the fourth and fifth slices of the project, which are still under development.