Dubai awards contract for final phase of solar park

DUBAI: Dubai on Saturday announced the award of a $3.8 billion contract for the final phase of a solar park aimed at generating 5,000 megawatts of electricity by 2030.

The government of the emirate said the contract for the fourth and final phase went to Chinese conglomerate Shanghai Electric and ACWA Power of Saudi Arabia.

The solar park named after Dubai’s ruler, went online in 2013 and the final phase is to be launched in stages from 2020, bringing the overall cost to $13.6 billion.

Dubai, which has dwindling oil reserves unlike Abu Dhabi, has set a target of 2050 to produce 75 percent of its electricity needs from renewable energy sources.

Abu Dhabi is building four nuclear power reactors, each with a 1,400-megawatt capacity, the first of which is scheduled to launch operations in 2018. The overall costs are put at more than $25 billion.

The UAE has announced it plans to invest a total of $163 billion in projects aimed at supplying the country with almost half of its energy needs from renewable sources.

France and other European states are pushing for a new way of taxing online giants such as Google on the basis of their turnover, rather than their profits. (AFP)