Chinese contractor Shanghai Electric announced on Tuesday that the 300-megawatt (MW) Block B of fifth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai has started producing electricity.

The ceremony marking the start of commercial operations was held on 10 October, 17 days ahead of schedule, the company said in a press statement.

The construction of Block B was completed last month, according to a Zawya Projects report.

"After 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, marking another important milestone..." the press statement said.

It said a crisis team was constituted to deal with issues such as the increase in the prices of raw materials, labour and transportation, and the inability to ship photovoltaic (PV) modules to the site on schedule due to the pandemic, paving the way for the project to get back on track

The statement said the design for the 300 MW Block C has been provisionally completed, adding that preparations for construction, including equipment deliveries, and the laying of underground cables, are in full swing.

(Writing by Senthil Palanisamy; Editing by Anoop Menon)
(anoop.menon@lseg.com)