Dubai’s power generation capacity has jumped by 700MW to 14.117GW according to state-utility Dewa on 3 July. The vast bulk of the gains came through the start-up of the third 600MW unit of the Hassyan power plant, now running on gas rather than coal, bringing the facility’s capacity up to 1.8GW. Another 600MW unit is due online at Hassyan next year, bringing it up to its full 2.4GW capacity.

The remainder came from the start-up of 100MW of solar PV capacity at the 900MW Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR) Solar Park’s Phase 5. This brings Phase 5 capacity up to 400MW following its inauguration in August 2021 (MEES, 20 August 2021), and total MBR capacity up to 1.627GW. Renewables now account for 11.5% of Dubai’s power mix, and Dewa targets 14% by year end. (CONTINUED - 131 WORDS)