The World's Biggest Single-Site Solar Park and What It Can Do

upstart writes:

Dubai dawns a new wave of renewable technology with its MBR Solar Park:

The United Arab Emirates might be known for its sizable oil and gas reserves, yet it also has one of the highest solar exposure rates globally.

It is home to the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park (MBR Solar Park), the world's largest single-site solar park according to the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA).

The energy plant covers 44 square kilometres in Dubai's southern desert and is equipped with millions of photovoltaic panels that convert the sun's rays to about 1000 MW hourly that are capable of powering around 320,000 homes.

[...] Established in 2013, the MBR Solar Park is set to reach its fifth and final phase in the next couple of years and is projected to offset 6.5 million tons of carbon emissions annually.

This is the equivalent of taking around five million passenger vehicles off the road yearly, according to US Environmental Protection Agency calculators.

[...] "When you educate the youth from a young age, basically they are aware of the challenges that are being faced by solar from now, and how they can basically look at addressing these challenges" the centre's director Dr. Aaesha Abdulla Alnuaimi told Euronews.

She cites the region's harsh environment as obstacles to technological growth. High temperatures and strong winds are just some of the factors that affect the performance and long-term reliability of renewable technology systems being used.

"Addressing the dust, for example, there is the robotic cleaning but there is a high cost in implementing robotic cleaning," says Alnuaimi. The same applies to using anti-soiling nanotechnology to ward away the effects of commonly occurring sand and dust storms.

"This is why we need more research and more innovation," she told Euronews, in order to find solutions.

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.