6 December 2016
Here comes the sun
Renewables make perfect sense in the Mideast Gulf. Policymakers need to get serious about them in 2017
The Middle East is finally turning its gaze towards renewables and 2017 could see an acceleration in development across the region. Solar-photovoltaic (PV) projects are particularly promising, given the region's climate, and offer a genuinely attractive long-term opportunity for economic development. There are signs of progress. In 2015 and 2016, for example, bid rounds for Dubai's al-Maktoum PV Solar Park, the emirate's largest renewable-energy demonstration project, achieved the lowest bids on record - globally. Cost bids in 2016 were as low as $0.02.99 per kilowatt hour for the project's 800-megawatt third phase, a world-record low and well beneath the cost of conventional fossil-fuel pla
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