Dubai invests to expand solar sector
In its on-going pursuit to diversify its economy, Dubai in planning to build a multi-billion dirham solar energy park to reduce the emirate’s dependence on fossil fuels and also reduce its carbon footprint.
The solar energy project will be the largest of its kind in the region and will incorporate several forms of solar technology including Photovoltaics, which is the process of directly converting sunlight into electricity and also system of reflective panels that direct sunlight into one spot to heat water and create electricity.
Saeed Al Tayer, the vice chairman of the Supreme Council of Energy said “We have a plan to diversify the energy [sector] in Dubai and to increase solar power to 1 per cent by 2020 and 5 per cent by 2030,”
As part of this process, Dubai aims to increase its output from 4.5MW to 1,000MW. This will significantly reduce the cost of energy in the long term, not only due to the reduced dependency on non-renewables but also because the price of energy created by solar has fallen 41% since 2004 thanks to advances in technology.
Mr Al Tayer explained “We hope that in future we will witness more decreases in price,” adding, “It is fantastic. It is another market place for sustainable energy in the Middle East,”