The project to produce 800MW of electricity from the sun will probably be awarded to more than one company, says Dewa chief

Dubai’s government-owned utility firm will probably announce the winners in the first quarter to build the third phase of a $3.3 billion (Dh12 billion) solar energy park.

The project to produce 800 megawatts of electricity from the sun will probably be awarded to more than one company, Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, chief executive officer of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), said in Dubai on Sunday. Dewa is still deciding whether to build the plant all at once or at different times to take advantage of lower costs, he said. In January, Dewa tripled its target for solar energy production to take advantage of lower building costs.

Energy companies in the Middle East are turning to solar power to take advantage of plentiful amounts of sun. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, has ample solar resources and open land and eventually “won’t need fossil fuels”, Oil Minister Ali Al Naimi said in May.

Dewa in January awarded a contract to build a 200-megawatt plant to a group led by Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power International, in the second phase of the park. The first solar factory at the park started in October 2013, with a 13-megawatt photovoltaic plant that was the largest of its type in the Middle East and North Africa at the time. First Solar Inc., the biggest US solar-panel manufacturer, built the facility, at a cost of Dh120 million to Dh130 million.

Dewa aims to have solar capacity of 1,000 megawatts by 2020 and 3,000 megawatts by 2030.