DEWA commissions Tesla’s Li-ion ESS at Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park
The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has announced that it has successfully commissioned a pilot Tesla battery system at the gigantic 1GW Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, as part of the company's efforts to expand its energy mix.
The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is one of the world's largest renewable energy projects, and while its present generating capacity sits at around 1,013 MW, DEWA plans to expand the project to 5 GW by the end of this decade.
The new battery system is relatively small. The pilot project comprises a Tesla lithium-ion battery system with a capacity of 1.21 MW and 8.61 MWh and was inaugurated last week.
"The energy storage project using Tesla's lithium-ion battery solution at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world, aims to diversify the energy mix and enhance energy storage technologies," stated Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA.
"The pilot project will evaluate the technical and economic capabilities of this technology within the operational framework of electricity systems in solar photovoltaic power plants.
"It also tests the role of this technology in the integration between clean energy and energy storage to achieve maximum efficiency and reliability," Al Tayer further added.
DEWA also has another storage pilot project at the same solar park, testing a sodium sulphur (NaS) energy solution with a capacity of 1.2 MW and 7.5 MWh.
It is also developing a 250 MW pumped-storage hydroelectric power station in Hatta, the first of its kind in the Arabian Gulf region which will generate electricity using water stored at the Hatta Dam with a storage capacity of 1,500 MWh.
