Dubai's state energy utility awarded a $3.9 billion contract to build and run a 700 megawatt solar power plant to a consortium comprising Shanghai Electric and Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power, the government said on Saturday. The project will feature a 260-metre (850-foot) tower receiving focused sunlight, the world's tallest such tower, the government said. The consortium bid to supply electricity to Dubai for 7.3 US cents per kilowatt hour.

The first stage of the project is due to be commissioned in late 2020. It is part of the Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Solar Park, a vast complex which is projected to generate 1,000MW by 2020 and 5,000MW by 2030. The government aims to use the solar park and other energy sources to increase the share of clean energy in Dubai's power output to 7 percent by 2020, 25 percent by 2030 and 75 percent by 2050.

Copyright Reuters, 2017