The last 800MW of the solar park's sixth phase is due this quarter

A solar park is one of the few large things that can be described honestly by a single number, because the number is what it produces rather than what it cost.

Where the park stands

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is at 3,860MW. The remaining 800MW of its sixth phase is scheduled to be commissioned by the fourth quarter of 2026, and the park is expected to pass 8,000MW by 2030.

What that is as a share

DEWA puts clean energy at more than 21.5 per cent of its total production capacity. The park is the bulk of it, on a single site south of the city.

The part that is not solar

Two projects in the same programme do something photovoltaics cannot. The 250MW Hatta hydroelectric plant — the first pumped-storage scheme in the GCC — holds 1,500MWh for the hours after sunset. The first phase of the Warsan green data centre, more than 100MW, is due in the second half of this year.

Why storage is the harder number

Capacity says what can be generated at noon. Storage says what is available at eight in the evening, when demand in a Gulf city is still high and the panels have stopped. A park that grows faster than its storage moves the problem rather than solving it.