Dubai Electricity and Water Authority is expanding the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park beyond 8,000 MW and adding storage and hydropower, pushing clean energy towards 36% of the emirate’s mix by 2030.
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) expects the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park to exceed 8,000 megawatts (MW) of capacity by 2030, up from an earlier target of 5,000 MW.
The solar park is the world’s largest single-site solar plant built under the independent power producer (IPP) model. It has reached 3,860 MW of installed capacity and keeps growing. DEWA uses the IPP model to bring in private and international developers. Successive bids at the park have set some of the world’s lowest solar tariffs, which has drawn foreign investment into Dubai’s power sector and cut the cost of clean electricity.
The park’s fourth phase combines photovoltaic panels with concentrated solar power. The seventh phase adds battery storage alongside new solar generation to improve grid stability. DEWA raised the park’s 2030 target to more than 8,000 MW, according to the Dubai Media Office. The seventh phase alone will add 2,000 MW of solar and 1,400 MW of battery storage with a six-hour duration.
Storage sits at the centre of the next phase. Six-hour battery capacity lets DEWA supply solar power into the evening peak, when demand in Dubai stays high. The utility says this makes renewable electricity more reliable on its grid.
DEWA is also widening its clean energy mix beyond solar. It is building the 250 MW Hatta Hydroelectric Power Plant, the first pumped-storage hydro project in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The plant will provide 1,500 megawatt-hours (MWh) of storage to support grid flexibility. DEWA is also investing in battery storage and green hydrogen.
Clean energy makes up more than 21.5% of Dubai’s power mix. DEWA expects that share to reach 36% by 2030 as new projects come online, on the way to 100% clean energy capacity by 2050 under the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy. For developers and investors, the expanding pipeline points to further tenders in solar, storage and hydrogen across the emirate.
