Dewa launches pilot project for energy storage at MBR Solar Park
DUBAI, September 27, 2021
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has inaugurated a pilot project for energy storage at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park using Tesla’s lithium-ion battery solution as part of its efforts to diversify the emirate’s energy mix and enhance energy storage technologies.
The project has a power capacity of 1.21 MW and an energy capacity of 8.61 MWh with a life span of up to 10 years, said a statement from Dewa.
The Dubai utility pointed out that it is implementing other energy storage projects. These include using Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) in construction of the fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which combines CSP and photovoltaic solar panels with a production capacity of 950MW.
The project will have the world’s largest global thermal storage capacity of 15 hours, ensuring energy availability round the clock.
It is also building a 250MW pumped-storage hydroelectric power station in Hatta, the first of its kind in the Gulf region. It will generate electricity using the water stored at Hatta Dam, with a storage capacity of 1,500 MWh, said the statement.
Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO, said Dewa has an integrated vision to achieve the major goals of energy security and sustainability.
"This will be achieved through our three main pillars. The first is to produce more clean energy, especially solar energy, under the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050. The second is to decouple the desalination process from the production of electricity and desalinate water using a combination of clean energy sources and waste heat. The third is disrupting the role of utilities using Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, such as AI, UAVs, energy storage, blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT) and many more," he added.
In collaboration with Expo 2020 Dubai and Siemens Energy, Dewa has also inaugurated the Green Hydrogen project, the first of its kind in the Mena region to produce green hydrogen using solar power. The project began at the outdoor testing facilities of its R&D Centre at the solar park.
Waleed Bin Salman, Executive VP Business Development and Excellence, said it is the second battery energy storage pilot project carried out by Dewa at the solar park.
The first one was implemented in collaboration with Amplex–NGK to install and test a sodium sulphur (NaS) energy solution, with a power capacity of 1.2 MW and an energy capacity of 7.5 MWh.
This was the first utility-scale energy storage pilot project in the region, stated Bin Salman.
Both pilot systems allow bi-directional charging from grids and/or solar plants, and then discharged back to grids, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
