The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) says that the concrete base of a solar tower in Phase Four of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR) Solar Park has been completed.
DEWA notes that the base contains about 1,300-tonnes of steel rebar and concrete, and claims that the structure will be the tallest solar power tower in the world when it is complete, standing at 260m tall.
Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, the MD and CEO of DEWA, inspected construction work of Phase Four of the Solar Park, which is being built on an independent power producer (IPP) model. The project will boast a capacity of 950MW and will cost as much as $4.29bn.
According to a statement, Al Tayer was briefed on the progress of construction work by Abdul Hamid Al Muhaidib, the executive MD of Noor Energy 1. Noor Energy 1 is a JV consisting of DEWA, Acwa Power and China’s Silk Road Fund and is tasked with building Phase Four of the renewable energy park.
Discussing the concrete base, Al Muhaidib said the concrete weighs over 19,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to the weight of 34 A380s planes’ take-off weight with 555 passengers. He also said that 33% of the engineering work has been completed for the project, which is proceeding according to plan.
The tower will use 70,000 heliostats and is expected to have the largest thermal storage capacity (15 hours) in the world. DEWA says this will allow energy availability around the clock.
