Shanghai Electric, a Chinese multinational power generation company, has announced that it has begun commercial operations of Block B in Phase Five at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park (MBR Phase V) facility in Dubai, UAE.

Solar park construction

The company said that the equipment had started producing electricity at the site from 10th October 2022, for commercial use. This was 17 days earlier than expected and marked another milestone in the construction of the company’s facility, it highlighted.

It explained that the project has been divided into three blocks – A, B and C, each with a capacity of 300MW. Block A was put into full operation in July 2021, it added.

"We are excited to announce the official opening of commercial operations of Block B of the MBR Phase V project 17 days ahead of schedule," remarked Qiu Minghua, the Vice General Manager of Shanghai Electric, at the ceremony. 

"Our company expects to complete the subsequent handover, as well as getting underway the construction of Block C, in due course," stated Minghua.

He added that the design for Block C has been provisionally completed, which meant that preparation for its construction, including equipment deliveries and the laying of underground cables, are underway.

Utilities construction 

Omar Al Hassan, the CEO of Shuaa Energy 3, the company in charge of implementation of the project, also expressed his appreciation and gratitude to all parties involved for their hard work and construction achievements, the statement said.

Al Hassan said that following 13-days of reliability and performance tests, the equipment in Block B was approved by the local power grid operator and officially put into commercial operation 17 days ahead of schedule.

The commissioning and commencement of commercial operations of Block C is likely to begin soon, he added.

The project’s construction had been negatively affected by the pandemic, with issues such as the increase in the prices of raw materials, availability of labour and transportation, all creating roadblocks to its completion. Added to these issues was the company's inability to ship photovoltaic (PV) modules to the site on schedule.

In order to deal with these obstacles, a crisis team composed of business professionals was assembled to resolve the issues with all parties involved, the company said.

After several rounds of discussions, Shanghai Electric and the relevant parties reached an agreement, paving the way for the project to get back on track and not only meet but also beat the agreed upon completion date, explained Minghua.

In July 2022, some shipments of batches of modules were delayed. In response, a team was again mobilised to speed up operations, he added. Because of the team's efforts around the clock, any time lost in the project was caught up over the course of a few weeks, he concluded.